I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.

High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

Lend yourself to others, but give yourself to yourself.

There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.

We are what we believe we are.

The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

The very essence of instinct is that it's followed independently of reason.

Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.

The more refined and subtle our minds, the more vulnerable they are.

He who defends everything defends nothing.

It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves.

You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself.

A man doesn't know what he knows until he knows what he doesn't know.

None so deaf as those that will not hear. None so blind as those that will not see.

What worries you, masters you.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.

You're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem.

God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.

I do not seek. I find.

In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

There are three musts that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy.

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

Good order is the foundation of all things.

Never mistake motion for action.

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

If in doubt, don't. If still in doubt, do what's right.

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.

We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Great tranquility of heart is his who cares for neither praise nor blame.

Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.

Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

The time is always right to do what is right.

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

In the end, people are persuaded not by what we say, but by what they understand.

If youth knew; if age could.

Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.

You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

True greatness consists in being great in little things.

Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles.

A man must not deny his manifest abilities, for that is to evade his obligations.

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

The whole point of getting things done is knowing what to leave undone.

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

Fortune favors the prepared mind.

There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.

We forfeit three-quarters of ourselves in order to be like other people.

Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.

The destiny of man is in his own soul.

Wit is the salt of conversation, not the food.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.

What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action.

There is nothing more uncommon than common sense.

To be is to do.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Character is what a man is in the dark.

We do not judge the people we love.

Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.

Well begun is half done.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.

Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.

I shut my eyes in order to see.

Talent is a flame. Genius is a fire.

We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.

United we stand, divided we fall.

Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.

Genius is never understood in its own time.

The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games.

There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.

If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.

The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident.

Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet them on your way down.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.

If not me, who? And if not now, when?

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.

Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.

We adore chaos because we love to produce order.

A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool.