Ignorance makes for weakness and fear; knowledge gives strength and confidence. Nothing surprises an intellect that knows all things with a sense of discrimination.

Pettiness of mind, ignorance and presumption are the cause of stubbornness, because stubborn people only want to believe what they themselves can imagine, and they can imagine very few things.

To be too dissatisfied with ourselves is a weakness. To be too satisfied with ourselves is a stupidity.

It is a singular characteristic of love that we cannot hide it where it exists, or pretend it where it does not exist.

We prefer people who are trying to imitate us more than those who are trying to equal us. This is because imitation is a sign of esteem, but the desire to equal others is a sign of envy.

Honest and sincere acts mislead the wicked and cause them to lose their path to their own goals, because mean-spirited people usually believe that people never act without deceit.

It is vain and useless to survey everything that goes on in the world if our study does not help us mend our ways.

Sometimes we praise the way things used to be in order to blame the present, and we esteem what is no longer in order to scorn what is.

Mean-spirited mediocrities, especially those with a smattering of learning, are the most likely to be opinionated. Only strong minds know how to correct their opinions and abandon a bad position.

Even the best-natured people, if uninstructed, are always blind and uncertain. We must take pains to instruct ourselves so that ignorance makes us neither too timid nor too bold.

Criticism should awaken our attention, not inflame our anger. We should listen to, and not flee from, those who contradict us. Truth should be our cause, no matter in what manner it comes to us.

Our greatest limitation isn't the leader of the lives

If you’re not working on the best idea right now, you’re wasting your time & money

How we deal with the AIDS epidemic should be one of the greatest ways that the world gets measured. The report card for this era.

A book is a garden, a party, a company by the way.

I'm kind of an accidental instrument, really, through which I hope that the judgment and the will of this nation can be expressed.

I'm a big toy collector. I've been slowing down because my money's been tight, but I collect toys, too.

Big data is great when you want to verify and quantify small data - as big data is all about seeking a correlation - small data about seeking the causation.

A leader is someone who puts their people in position to be successful all the time

The same government that brought you urban renewal is likely to make an even worse mess of suburban renewal.

You need the courage to seem foolish and to fail.