“If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions.”

You can’t know too much, but you can say too much.

One of the first lessons a president has to learn is that every word he says weighs a ton.

Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.

In life there is nothing more common than talent and intelligence. What is missing is passion, persistence, commitment, and dedication.

We must have no carelessness in our dealings with public property or the expenditure of public money. Such a condition is characteristic either of an undeveloped people, or of a decadent civilization. America is neither.

We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.

All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.

The higher state to which [America] seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine origin. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God.

Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear, if we would only sit down and keep still.

Ultimately property rights and personal rights are the same thing.

The best help that benevolence and philanthropy can give is that which induces everybody to help himself.

Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.

Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.

Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest.

Anytime you don’t want anything you get it.

You can’t increase prosperity by taxing success.

If you don’t try to create the future you want, you must endure the future you get.

Friendship creates only the illusion of not being alone.

Criticism is the essence of creation.

Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and joy you have not yet begun to live.

We didn’t set the world on fire from the first day. Disappointments, setbacks and work created the company as it is today.

When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment you create trust!

I choose who and what stays on my mind. I am creator of every thought and feeling.

Life is all about what you are creating, radiating, experiencing, and carrying forward.