Courtesy is a silver lining around the dark clouds of civilization; it is the best part of refinement and in many ways, an art of heroic beauty in the vast gallery of man's cruelty and baseness.
One of the most important things one can do in life is to brutally question every single thing you are taught.
Suffering is one of life's great teachers.
A mistake made by many people with great convictions is that they will let nothing stand in the way of their views, not even kindness.
Change will never happen when people lack the ability and courage to see themselves for who they are.
The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places.
Courteousness is consideration for others; politeness is the method used to deliver such considerations.
Good manners are appreciated as much as bad manners are abhorred.
The deceptive, glossy media images of faces, bodies and social lifestyles, make us hate ourselves so we will buy a solution to love ourselves once again.
All discomfort comes from suppressing your true identity.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that you have to agree with people and their beliefs to defend them from injustice.
An intelligent person is never afraid or ashamed to find errors in his understanding of things.
Within the hearts men, loyalty and consideration are esteemed greater than success.
I have never read for entertainment, but rather for understanding and to satisfy my eager curiosity.
Ambition is not what a man would do, but what a man does, for ambition without action is fantasy.
Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty.
Education should prepare our minds to use its own powers of reason and conception rather than filling it with the accumulated misconceptions of the past.
Enthusiasm is the energy and force that builds literal momentum of the human soul and mind.
The worst bullies you will ever encounter in your life are your own thoughts.
A person who makes few mistakes makes little progress.
The supreme lesson of any education should be to think for yourself and to be yourself; absent this attainment, education creates dangerous, stupefying conformity.
The talent of a true writer and poet is in the ear.
It is better to have a meaningful life and make a difference than to merely have a long life.
The greatest self is a peaceful smile, that always sees the world smiling back.
The folly of endless consumerism sends us on a wild goose-chase for happiness through materialism.
There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.
It is better to lose everything you have to keep the balance of justice level, than to live a life of petty privilege devoid of true freedom.
It is better to have a fair intellect that is well used than a powerful one that is idle.
In all known time there has never been a greater monster or miracle than the human being.
Most people do not actually know how to think for themselves, and unfortunately that prevents them from even knowing it.
No time is better spent than that spent in the service of your fellow man.
Abundance is a process of letting go; that which is empty can receive.
Comfort in expressing your emotions will allow you to share the best of yourself with others, but not being able to control your emotions will reveal your worst.
Architects of grandeur are often the master builders of disillusionment.
The ability to forgive is one of man's greatest achievements.
Do not let your grand ambitions stand in the way of small but meaningful accomplishments.
Yearning for the seemingly impossible is the path to human progress.
The conflicts we have with the outside world are often conflicts we have within ourselves.
When trying to teach someone a boundary, they learn less from the enforcement of the boundary and more from the way the boundary was established.
While it is important for people to see your promise you must also remember that hope is the keeper of both happiness and disappointment, the father of both progress and failure.
Join me in my quest for a greater understanding of our existence. Join me in my desire for a greater self. Join me as I seek the humility to love and understand my fellow man.
If we fear the unknown then surely we fear ourselves.
Self-made men often worship their creator.
True love is quiescent, except in the nascent moments of true humility.
There are amazingly wonderful people in all walks of life; some familiar to us and others not. Stretch yourself and really get to know people. People are in many ways one of our greatest treasures.
Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness.
The real violence is committed in the writing of history, the records of the legal system, the reporting of news, through the manipulation of social contracts, and the control of information.
In America, educators punish those who actually think for themselves. There is only acceptance for popular opinion.
The common person fears to think beyond the common.
Materialism is an identity crisis.
Having a sense of purpose is having a sense of self. A course to plot is a destination to hope for.
No one is more insufferable than he who lacks basic courtesy.
Progress and healing involves seeing every person as not so different from ourselves.
Where wise actions are the fruit of life, wise discourse is the pollination.
Emotion is often what we rely upon to carry us across the unfathomable voids in our intelligence.
One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.
One column of truth cannot hold an institution of ideas from falling into ignorance. It is wiser that a person of prudence and purpose save his strength for battles that can be won.
We believe we are the consumers, but we are the consumed.
Birth and death; we all move between these two unknowns.
The secret to discovery is to never believe existing facts.