First the amendment of their own minds. For the removal of the impediments of the mind will sooner clear the passages of fortune than the obtaining fortune will remove the impediments of the mind.

It is impossible to love and to be wise.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.

All rising to great places is by a winding stair.

It's not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.

Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.

There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted... but to weigh and consider.

Life is a marshmallow, easy to chew but hard to swallow.

The fact that you are even here, alive, on this planet is a mathematical miracle, and you should not spend the time that you have being busy being miserable.

The learning process continues until the day you die.

Religion and culture are two important ways in which we as humans find our identity. That's certainly true for me.

Poetry seems to be the only weapon able to beat language, using language's own means.

[On Bonnie Prince Charlie:] Oh, Charlie is my darling, / My darling, my darling; / Oh, Charlie is my darling, / The young Chevalier.

I think I learned a lot from reading in general - even from reading badly written books.

Fighting for social justice is not about leaving the mainstream. It is about being right in the middle of it.

You are responsible for the predictable consequences of your actions.

We have no choice, we must all die. How we live, however, is entirely of our choosing.