Opportunity makes a thief.
The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.
I would live to study, and not study to live.
Nakedness is uncomely, as well in mind as body, and it addeth no small reverence to men’s manners and actions if they be not altogether open. Therefore set it down: That a habit of secrecy is both politic and moral.
We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do.
The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.
Cure the disease and kill the patient.
It was prettily devised of Aesop, The fly sat on the axle tree of the chariot wheel and said, what dust do I raise!
If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.
It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
Murder in the murderer is no such ruinous thought as poets and romancers will have it; it does not unsettle him, or fright him from his ordinary notice of trifles; it is an act quite easy to be contemplated.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos; trees, clouds, everything.
You have to choose between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the Government. And, with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the Capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold.
We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.
How lovely the little river is, with its dark changing wavelets! It seems to me like a living companion while I wander along the bank, and listen to its low, placid voice…
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm
For many years I was a self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms and did my duty faithfully, though I never received payment for it.
Many a man’s strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.
