By not claiming to be first in the world one can rule.

Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit.

Those who are right do not argue. Those who argue are not right.

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

One who believes in himself has no need to convince others.

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

In order to eliminate the negative influences, simply ignore them.

Let your workings remain a mystery. Just show people the results.

The leader is a teacher who succeeds without taking credit. And, because credit is not taken, credit is received.

I had traded the fight against love for the fight against loneliness, the fight against life for the fight against death.

Don't spend a lifetime regretting the decisions that you made. Chances are, that someone else would have made them for you anyway.

Out of the ugliness of the ironworks lepers will eat, children will be born, their parents will grow old.

Marriage is a team effort. Both of us share that philosophy.

'Hamilton' is, of course, closely tied to the Obamas because Lin first performed the opening number at a White House poetry jam.

It's very hard to write a song alone. It's only by jamming that you can get a song together.

Profound insights arise only in debate, with a possibility of counterargument, only when there is a possibility of expressing not only correct ideas but also dubious ideas.

Round and round we spin, with feet of lead and wings of tin.

All that remains is for a few dots and commas to be crossed.

On a single day, I read articles where I was described as being alternately 'lanky,' 'pudgy,' 'doughy,' 'balding,' 'utterly forgettable,' and 'constantly irritating.