“Now it is established in the sciences that no knowledge is acquired save through the study of its causes and beginnings, if it has had causes and beginnings; nor completed except by knowledge of its accidents and accompanying essentials.”

Width of life is more important than length of life.

The more brilliant the lightning, the quicker it disappears.

Leeches should be kept a day before applying them. They should be squeezed to make them eject the contents of their stomachs.

There are no incurable diseases – only the lack of will. There are no worthless herbs – only the lack of knowledge.

I [prefer] a short life with width to a narrow one with length.

In God alone, essence (what He is) and existence (that he is) coincide.

An ignorant doctor is the aide-de-camp of death.

It is in the nature of water … to become transformed into earth through a predominating earthy virtue; … it is in the nature of earth to become transformed into water through a predominating aqueous virtue.

Is it the fault of wine if a fool drinks it and goes stumbling into darkness?

As to the mental essence, we find it in infants devoid of every mental form.

The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes.

When you do not know the nature of the malady, leave it to nature; do not strive to hasten matters. For either nature will bring about the cure or it will itself reveal clearly what the malady really is.

The different sorts of madness are innumerable.

That whose existence is necessary must necessarily be one essence.

Those who deny the first principle should be flogged or burned until they admit that it is not the same thing to be burned and not burned, or whipped and not whipped.

A horse is simply a horse.

Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.

Don’t prepare. Begin. Our enemy is not lack of preparation. The enemy is resistance, our chattering brain producing excuses. Start before you are ready.

I began working with a family camera. It was called a Kodak Autographic, which was one of those things where you flopped it open and pulled out the bellows. And I’ve been at it ever since – I’ve never stopped.

One cannot choose how one’s life begins but one can choose to face the end with courage

The place to begin the task of eliminating evil is within yourself.

There’s a story behind everything but behind all your stories is always your mother’s story because hers is where yours begins.

The highest manifestation of true leadership is to identify one’s replacement and to begin mentoring him or her.

Begin where you are; work where you are; the hour which you are now wasting, dreaming of some far off success may be crowded with grand possibilities.