Many pleasant things are better when they belong to someone else. When things belong to others, we enjoy them twice as much, without the risk of losing them, and with the pleasure of novelty.

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.

The wise have a solid sense of silence and the ability to keep a storehouse of secrets. Their capacity and character are respected.

Know or listen to those who know.

To find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

There are friendships merely for pleasure, some for the exchange of ideas. Rarest are those friends of one's inmost self.

A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity.

The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people.

Child mortality since 2000 is down by 2.65 million a year. That's a rate of 7,256 children's lives saved each day. ... It drives me nuts that most people don't seem to know this news.

We never get so near God as when we plead for others.

Tolstoy is one of the greatest artists in history, but he finally became infused with the idea of the uselessness of art. He gave himself to his own kind of religion.

I don't think about art when I'm working. I think about life.

I believe myself that there's a great deal more interest and engagement among Americans than our politicians recognize.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.

I suppose he must have taken about a nine or something in hats. Shows what a rotten thing it is to let your brain develop too much.

A lot of my work is with children and there's a reason for that, because they really level you.

The one-legged creature is envious of the millipede; the millipede is envious of the snake; the snake is envious of the wind; the wind is envious of the eye; the eye is envious of the heart.