“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing and be nothing.”

The worst thing about medicine is that one kind makes another necessary

A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.

We find what we expect to find, and we receive what we ask for.

Never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.

Money never made a fool of anybody; it only shows them up.

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal.

Growth is often a painful process.

Genius is the capacity of avoiding hard work.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.

The average woman sees only the weak points in a strong man, and the good points in a weak one.

All wages are based primarily on productive power. Anything else would be charity.

Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep. The only way to retain love is to give it away.

I believe in the hands that work, in the brains that think, and in the hearts that love…I believe in sunshine, fresh air, friendship, calm sleep, beautiful thoughts.

People who are able to do their own thinking should not allow others to do it for them.

Meanness is more in half-doing than in omitting acts of generosity.

To make mistakes is human, but to profit from them is divine.

I talk to nurses and programmers, salespeople and firefighters – people who bust their tails every day. Not one of them – not one – stashes their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.

Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.

We cannot control necessity, though we often persuade ourselves that certain things are our choice, when in truth we have been unavoidably impelled to them.

Don’t avoid the cliches – they are cliches because they work!

Her face looked ugly in the attempt to avoid tears; it was an ugliness which bound him to her more than any beauty could have done. It isn’t being happy together, he thought as though it were a fresh discovery, that makes one love–it’s being unhappy together.

Everything has a beginning and an ending. Make peace with that and all will be well…In life we cannot avoid change, we cannot avoid loss. Freedom and happiness are found in the flexibility and ease with which we move through change.

We must be willing to encounter darkness and despair when they come up and face them, over and over again if need be, without running away or numbing ourselves in the thousands of ways we conjure up to avoid the unavoidable.