“He who asks with timidity invites a refusal.”

No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

Many things have fallen only to rise higher.

There is nothing more despicable than an old man who has no other proof than his age to offer of his having lived long in the world.

He who seeks wisdom is a wise man; he who thinks he has found it is mad.

Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.

You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.

No man is free who is a slave to the flesh.

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

It is not goodness to be better than the worst.

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.

It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.

Great men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

Be not dazzled by beauty, but look for those inward qualities which are lasting.

I turned down Prince William’s invitation for me to sing at his birthday bash because he was spearing animals in Africa and bringing publicity to it, and I thought that was pretty disgusting!

Insufficient facts always invite danger.

Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.

Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

Being brave enough to be alone frees you up to invite people into your life because you want them and not because you need them.

Living in each moment with the awareness that nothing is permanent is an invitation to love more deeply, to speak more honesty, and to align with whispers of our soul.

You can’t be afraid of a little rain when you invite the storm in for a cup of coffee.