Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportional to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better.

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.

If you look around the table and you can't tell who the sucker is, it's you.

Respect for the Truth is an acquired taste.

Nothing in man is more serious than his sense of humor; it is the sign that he wants all the truth.

The art of reading is the art of adopting the pace the author has set. Some books are fast and some are slow, but no book can be understood if it is taken at the wrong speed.

Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king.

Our best chance for happiness is education.

There are two statements about human beings that are true: that all human beings are alike, and that all are different. On those two facts all human wisdom is founded.

There is one thing we can do, and the happiest of people are those who do it to the limit of their ability. We can be completely present.

To fail to love is not to exist at all.

In automobile terms, the child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.

If you are not open to the unprecedented, you will repeat history. If you are open to the unprecedented, you will change history. The difference is prayer.

A prudent ruler is distinguished by his ability to manage.

Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.

When one individual comes into intimate contact with another, she—or he, of course, as the case may be—must almost inevitably receive or inflict suffering.

All of us are richer and more fascinating and more complex than we can ever know.

When everybody compares me to Mario Lemieux, it's an honor.

It's the only time that I'm ever nervous on stage, is when we're doing live TV. Especially an awards show, because I know you can't fix it.

The referee said it was not acceptable, but the Press considered they could not refuse to publish a book by a professor of the university.

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon. In an instant age, perhaps we must relearn the ancient truth that patience, too, has its victories.