“The greatest astonishment of my life was the discovery that the man who does the work is not the man who gets rich.”

A man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owing real estate.

I don’t believe in God. My God is patriotism. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

You are what you think. So just think big, believe big, act big, work big, give big, forgive big, laugh big, love big and live big.

tall oaks from little acorns grow.

You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb a little.

The man who dies rich, dies disgraced

That best portion of a good man’s life— His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love.

He that cannot reason is a fool. He that will not is a bigot. He that dare not is a slave.

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.

We cannot afford to lose the Negro. We have urgent need of all and more. Let us therefore turn our efforts to making the best of him.

I am as a speck of dust in the sun, and not even so much, in this solemn, mysterious, unknowable universe.

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

When fate hands us a lemon, let’s try to make lemonade.

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do.

I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.

Astonishment is the proper response to reality.

People who relate what they believe to be new and startling information like to have such information received with exclamations of astonishment and admiration.

You must not pity me because my sixtieth year finds me still astonished. To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly.

When I wake up, I wake to something worse. It’s the astonishment of being myself.

Making it up? said Marvin, swivelling his head in a parody of astonishment, Why should I want to make anything up? Life’s bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it.

She is the crescendo, the final, astonishing work of God. Woman. In one last flourish creation comes to a finish with Eve. She is the Master’s finishing touch.

First move me, astonish me, break my heart, let me tremble, weep, stare, be enraged-only then regale my eyes.