“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

He who is not happy with little will never be happy with much.

Don’t live by your own rules, but in harmony with nature.

Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself.

When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

No matter where you find yourself, comport yourself as if you were a distinguished person.

It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous, even death is terrible only if we fear it.

Other people’s views and troubles can be contagious. Don’t sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

No matter what happens, it is within my power to turn it to my advantage.

A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.

Happiness and personal fulfillment are the natural consequences of doing the right thing.

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

We all carry the seeds of greatness within us, but we need an image as a point of focus in order that they may sprout.

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent.

My father believes that Western religions are death cults, which I agree with.

He gave me a look at myself I’ve never had before. He saw something in me nobody else ever did. He made me see it too. He made me believe it.

It is commonly believed that anyone who tabulates numbers is a statistician. This is like believing that anyone who owns a scalpel is a surgeon.

If a poet has a dream, it is not of becoming famous, but of being believed.

Facts are true whether or not you believe them.

I was raised to believe that religion is a beautiful thing, but it’s fiction.

What I’m saying is, when different experiments give you the same result, it is no longer subject to your opinion. That’s the good thing about science: It’s true whether or not you believe in it. That’s why it works.