Your task is to stand straight; not to be held straight.
It is the responsibility of leadership to work intelligently with what is given, and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices.
The ruling power within, when it is in its natural state, is so related to outer circumstances that it easily changes to accord with what can be done and what is given it to do.
Understand however that every man is worth just so much as the things are worth about which he busies himself.
Let no act be done without purpose.
Welcome every experience that the looms of fate may weave for you...
Just as nature takes every obstacle, every impediment, and works around it – turns it to its purposes, incorporates it into itself, so, too, a rational being can turn each setback into raw material and use it to achieve its goal.
Always take the short cut; and that is the rational one. Therefore say and do everything according to soundest reason.
The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to itself.
Prize that which is best in the universe; and this is that which useth everything and ordereth everything.
Things that have a common quality ever quickly seek their kind.
Cultivate these, then, for they are wholly within your power: sincerity and dignity; industriousness; and sobriety. Avoid grumbling, be frugal, considerate, and frank; be temperate in manner and speech; carry yourself with authority.
In the morning, when you are sluggish about getting up, let this thought be present: ‘I am rising to a man’s work.’
In the meantime, cling tooth and nail to the following rule: not to give in to adversity, not to trust prosperity, and always take full note of fortune’s habit of behaving just as she pleases.
Discard everything except these few truths: we can live only in the present moment, in this brief now; all the rest of our life is dead and buried or shrouded in uncertainty. Short is the life we lead, and small our patch of earth.
A man makes no noise over a good deed, but passes on to another as a vine to bear grapes again in season.
Remember that to change your mind and follow him who sets you right is to be none the less free than you were before.
How many together with whom I came into the world are already gone out of it.
Nothing can come out of nothing, any more than a thing can go back to nothing.
The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.