“Everything transitory is but an image.”

Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever.

To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.

If you’ve never eaten while crying you don’t know what life tastes like.

The deed is everything; the fame is nothing.

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.

And all must follow in my wake.

A person hears only what they understand.

If I love you, what business is it of yours?

How often do I lull my seething blood to rest, for you have never seen anything so unsteady, so uncertain, as this heart.

Every day I observe more and more the folly of judging of others by ourselves; and I have so much trouble with myself, and my own heart is in such constant agitation, that I am well content to let others pursue their own course, if they only allow me the same privilege.

Difficulties increase the nearer we get to the goal.

We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.

Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though ’twere his own.

The greatest evil that can befall man is that he should come to think ill of himself.

Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and – if at all possible – speak a few sensible words.

The money turned me into a monster.

What you are the world is. And without your transformation, there can be no transformation of the world.

It’s a new challenge to see how people can change your look. I like words like transformation, reinvention, and chameleon. Because one word I don’t like is predictable.

I was shy for several years in my early days in Hollywood until I figured out that no one really gave a damn if I was shy or not, and I got over my shyness.

I’m only interested in people engaged in a project of self-transformation.

Transformation can only take place immediately; the revolution is now, not tomorrow.

Only through immitation do we develop toward originality.

If we want to change existing conditions, we must first transform ourselves, which means that we must become aware of our own actions, thoughts and feelings in everyday life.