To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.
A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.
Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.
Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.
Most people who ask for advice from others have already resolved to act as it pleases them.
I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art.
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.
Your friend is your needs answered.
Poverty is a veil that obscures the face of greatness. An appeal is a mask covering the face of tribulation.
Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.
Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert.
Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.
All that spirits desire, spirits attain.
Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.
Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.
A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?
