A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

Desire is poverty. Desire is the greatest impurity of the mind. Desire is the motive force for action. Desire in the mind is the real impurity. Even a spark of desire is a very great evil.

Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.

It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.

Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.

Wisdom is not the product of schooling, but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence.

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

The wound is the place where the Light enters you.

The greatest of wealth is the richness of the soul.

An understanding of the natural world is a source of not only great curiosity, but great fulfilment.

Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece. You cannot be improved. You have only to come to it, to know it, to realize it.

I have had good experience and trial of this world...I know what it is to be a subject, what to be a sovereign, what to have good neighbours, and sometimes meet evil willers. I have found treason in trust, seen great benefits little regarded.

The smaller the mind, the greater the conceit.

The very essence of instinct is that it's followed independently of reason.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.