“I don’t want people to think that they can attain realization simply by listening to others or by reading books. They must practice what they read and hear.”

Meet everybody and every circumstance on the battlefield of life with the courage of a hero and the smile of a conqueror.

Be careful what you choose to do consciously, for unless your will is very strong, that is what you may have to do repeatedly and compulsively through the habit-influencing power of the subconscious mind.

Whatever you want others to be, first be that yourself. Then, you will find others responding in like manner to you.

Proper visualization by the exercise of concentration and willpower enables us to materialize thoughts, not only as dreams or visions in the mental realm, but also as experiences in the material realm.

Seclusion is the price of greatness.

Untrained warriors are soon killed on the battlefield; so also persons untrained in the art of preserving their inner peace are quickly riddled by the bullets of worry and restlessness in active life.

The greatest romance is with the Infinite.

Through every trial we grow. All suffering we experience has a meaning. Though it seems very cruel, it is like the fire that smelts the iron ore: the steel that emerges from that furnace is beautifully strong, useful for many purposes.

If circumstances are bad and you have to bear them, do not make them a part of yourself.

Making others happy, through kindness of speech and sincerity of right advice, is a sign of true greatness. To hurt another soul by sarcastic words, looks, or suggestions, is despicable.

The happiness of one’s own heart alone cannot satisfy the soul; one must try to include, as necessary to one’s own happiness, the happiness of others.

Read a little. Meditate more. Think of God all the time.

Many people excuse their own faults but judge other persons harshly. We should reverse this attitude by excusing others’ shortcomings and by harshly examining our own.

In that power of self-control lies the seed of eternal freedom.

By the practice of meditation, you will find that you are carrying within your heart a portable paradise.

Change your life by changing your thoughts.

Let your daughter have first of all the book of Psalms for holiness of heart, and be instructed in the Proverbs of Solomon for her godly life.

My philosophy is that I’m an artist. I perform an art not with a paint brush or a camera. I perform with bodily movement. Instead of exhibiting my art in a museum or a book or on canvas, I exhibit my art in front of the multitudes.

Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring… ‘How to Build a Boat.’

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.

And we are never too old to study the Bible. Each time the lessons are studied comes some new meaning, some new thought which will make us better.

I really wanted to write a book [99: Stories of the Game] on the tradition and history of the league, where kids can pick it up and read it and learn things and say, “Geez, I didn’t know that. That’s pretty cool.”

I am a beau in nothing but my books.

The experience of writing ‘The Kite Runner’ is one I will always think back on with fondness. There is an energy, a romance in writing the first novel that can never be duplicated again.