“If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”

Two souls, alas, are housed within my breast, and each will wrestle for the mastery there.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

We know accurately only when we know little; doubt grows with knowledge.

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

There is no past we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternal now that builds and creates out of the past something new and better.

The intelligent man finds everything laughable, the sensible man hardly anything.

The suffering may be moral or physical; and in my opinion it is just as absurd to call a man a coward who destroys himself, as to call a man a coward who dies of a malignant fever.

Doubt can only be removed by action.

There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing.

The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.

Everybody wants to be somebody, but nobody wants to grow.

For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him, he must regard himself as greater than he is.

The chances you take, the people you meet, the people you love, the faith that you have. That’s what’s going to define you.

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

The characters are born from repetition.

Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Character is destiny.

The character of our country is on the ballot.

A man’s character is his fate.