“I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.”

Pride is pleasure arising from a man’s thinking too highly of himself.

The more clearly you understand yourself and your emotions, the more you become a lover of what is.

What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.

Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.

He who seeks equality between unequals seeks an absurdity.

The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure, you are above everything distressing.

All happiness or unhappiness solely depends upon the quality of the object to which we are attached by love.

Peace is not the absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition of benevolence, confidence, justice.

Men are mistaken in thinking themselves free; their opinion is made up of consciousness of their own actions, and ignorance of the causes by which they are determined.

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

In practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable ; in speculative thought we are compelled to follow truth.

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.

What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness.

I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.

I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.

Men argue. Nature acts.

A leader is the one who speaks last and acts first.

That wasn’t any act of God. That was an act of pure human fuckery.

Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.

Never confuse Motion with Action.

Never mistake motion for action.

The path to success is to take massive, determined action.

If love is in our hearts, every thought, word, and deed can bring about a miracle. Because understanding is the very foundation of love, words and actions that emerge from our love are always helpful.