The existence of virtue depends entirely upon its use.

Politicians are not born; they are excreted.

Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that having heroes, fails to remember and honor them.

It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.

Read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in; read as one goest out. The task of the educated mind is simply put: read to lead.

We learn nothing from history except that we learn nothing from history.

It is not enough to acquire wisdom, it is necessary to employ it.

Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.

Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.

Never loan your car to anyone to whom you've given birth.

I could I trust starve like a gentleman. It's listed as part of the poetic training, you know.

But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.

Men speak from knowledge, women from imagination.

It's my job to turn my mess [life] into a message and never regret a day of my life.

If you compromise with your own conscience, you will weaken your conscience. Soon your conscience will fail to guide you and you never will have real wealth based on peace of mind.

Not to innovate is the single largest reason for the decline of existing organizations. Not to know how to manage is the single largest reason for the failure of new ventures.

I’m not raising my kids to survive the world. I’m raising them to change it.