“It’s not only what we have inherited from our father and mother that walks in us. It’s all sorts of dead ideas, and lifeless old beliefs, and so forth. They have no vitality, but they cling to us all the same, and we can’t get rid of them.”

I have other duties equally sacred, Duties to myself.

It is not by spectacular achievements that man can be transformed, but by will.

I must make up my mind which is right – society or I.

To see one’s goal and to drive toward it, steeling one’s heart, is most uplifting.

What’s a man’s first duty? The answer is brief: To be himself.

Happiness is worth a daring deed; we are both free if we but will it, and then the game is won.

The devil is compromise.

A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.

In your power, all the same. Subject to your will and your demands. No longer free! No! That’s a thought I’ll never endure! Never.

Helmer: “Before all else you are a wife and a mother.” Nora: “That I no longer believe. I believe that before all else I am a human being.”

Before I write down one word, I have to have the character in my mind through and through. I must penetrate into the last wrinkle of his soul.

You have never loved me. You have only thought it pleasant to be in love with me.

Many a man can save himself if he admits he’s done wrong and takes his punishment.

Happiness is above all things the calm, glad certainty of innocence.

Castles in the air – they are so easy to take refuge in. And so easy to build too.

To live is to war with trolls.

A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.

Barbarism is not the inheritance of our pre-history. It is the companion that dogs our every step.

My mother told me I was blessed, and I have always taken her word for it. Being born of – or reincarnated from – royalty is nothing Like being blessed. Royalty is inherited from another human being; blessedness comes from God.

Happiness and joy are inner qualities that can’t be shaken by outer circumstances because they are inherent within the core Self.

That which we acquire with the most difficulty we retain the longest; as those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.

The mental ability to concentrate is inherent to all; it is not extraordinary or mysterious. Meditation is not something that a Yogi has to teach you; you already have the ability to shut out thoughts.

The art of medicine cannot be inherited, nor can it be copied from books

Let the meek inherit the earth — they have it coming to them.