Sometimes we praise the way things used to be in order to blame the present, and we esteem what is no longer in order to scorn what is.

Pettiness of mind, ignorance and presumption are the cause of stubbornness, because stubborn people only want to believe what they themselves can imagine, and they can imagine very few things.

To be too dissatisfied with ourselves is a weakness. To be too satisfied with ourselves is a stupidity.

It is a singular characteristic of love that we cannot hide it where it exists, or pretend it where it does not exist.

We prefer people who are trying to imitate us more than those who are trying to equal us. This is because imitation is a sign of esteem, but the desire to equal others is a sign of envy.

Honest and sincere acts mislead the wicked and cause them to lose their path to their own goals, because mean-spirited people usually believe that people never act without deceit.

It is vain and useless to survey everything that goes on in the world if our study does not help us mend our ways.

Mean-spirited mediocrities, especially those with a smattering of learning, are the most likely to be opinionated. Only strong minds know how to correct their opinions and abandon a bad position.

Even the best-natured people, if uninstructed, are always blind and uncertain. We must take pains to instruct ourselves so that ignorance makes us neither too timid nor too bold.

Criticism should awaken our attention, not inflame our anger. We should listen to, and not flee from, those who contradict us. Truth should be our cause, no matter in what manner it comes to us.

We think highly of men when we do not know the extent of their capabilities, for we always suppose that more exists when we only see half.

Every crossroad in life has four options – quit, adapt, proceed, or accept, but quitting is a dead-end.

A high self-esteem having artist works hard to be understood. A low self-esteem having artist works hard to be agreed with.

...and I shut off my anxious heart and my nervous head as dusk descended into another night, another meaningless merging, another attempt to find myself as I gave myself away.

[T]he vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.

I love being physical, but I don't have any desire to prove myself.

The graves of those we have loved and lost distress and console as.

...you are battered and bruised in the collisions between reminiscence and reality.

The greatest joy a petty soul can taste is to dupe a great soul and catch it in a snare.

The love of form is a love of endings.

Desire +Stability = Resolution, Resolution +Hard work=success