Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the purpose of instruction. No, read in order to live.

Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.

I believe that if one always looked at the skies, one would end up with wings.

It seems to me that I have always existed and that I possess memories that date back to the Pharaohs.

Stupidity is something unshakable; nothing attacks it without breaking itself against it; it is of the nature of granite, hard and resistant.

Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.

A man is a critic when he cannot be an artist, in the same way that a man becomes an informer when he cannot be a soldier.

I tried to discover, in the rumor of forests and waves, words that other men could not hear, and I pricked up my ears to listen to the revelation of their harmony.

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

Here is true immorality: ignorance and stupidity; the devil is nothing but this. His name is Legion.

A courageous and determined person finds opportunity in every adversity.

Good intentions are the best business.

You know how you get rid of tears?” I asked. He shook his head. “You find somebody you love and you hug them.

Adversity's sweet milk philosophy.

Just using a checklist requires [doctors] to embrace different values from ones we've had, like humility, discipline, teamwork.

If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that's a big accomplishment.

Grown-ups didn't seem to realize that for me, as for most other schoolboys, it was easier to keep silent than to speak. I was a natural oyster.

I think politics are a part of life, so I have no resistance to it, but it's not something I set out to do.

Death had his grudge against me, and he got up in the way, like an armed robber, with a pike in his hand.

If you want to possess things—money; if you want to possess yourself—meditation. And if you possess yourself, money loses all meaning.