Every one of us ... knows better than he practices, and recognizes a better law than he obeys.

Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

We enter the world alone, we leave it alone.

The essence of greatness is neglect of the self.

As we advance in life, we learn the limits of our abilities.

Carelessness is inexcusable, and merits the inevitable sequence.

Instruction does not prevent wasted time or mistakes; and mistakes themselves are often the best teachers of all.

The practical effect of a belief is the real test of its soundness.

Experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes.

The better one is morally the less aware they are of their virtue.

Winter solitude-in a world of one colourthe sound of the wind.

When I was younger, I think I intimidated people much more because I was far more insecure.

Silence is the safest response for all the contradiction that arises from impertinence, vulgarity, or envy.

Lead the audience by the nose to the thought.

I wrote a study about this question, The Lessons of October, which served as a pretext for my elimination from the government.

If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely.

If your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

You do not keep American democracy in suspense. Because, look, too many people have marched and protested and fought and died for this democracy.

Conversation is our account of ourselves...Conversation is the vent of character as well as thoughts...It is the laboratory of the student.

I look at scouting reports, but don't let them dictate what I'm throwing.