The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.
Happiness is a direction, not a place.
Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
We truly possess only what we are able to renounce; otherwise, we are simply possessed by our possessions.
Many people know how to work hard; many others know how to play well; but the rarest talent in the world is the ability to introduce elements of playfulness into work, and to put some constructive labor into our leisure.
Enemies, as well as lovers, come to resemble each other over a period of time.
A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, his is also one who is permanently disappointed in the future.
The deepest and rarest kind of courage has nothing to do with feats or obstacles in the outside world; and, indeed, has nothing to do with the outside world – it is the courage to be who you are.
When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’
The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.
People who think they’re generous to a fault usually think that’s their only fault.
Why do so many people yearn for an eternal life when they don’t even know what to do with themselves in this brief one?
Being yourself is not remaining where you are, or being satisfied with what you are. It is the point of departure.
Time is love, above all else. It is the most precious commodity in the world and should be lavished on those we care most about.
Elitism is the slur directed at merit by mediocrity.
Marriages we regard as the happiest are those in which each of the partners believes he or she got the best of it.
Why are we willing to accept a new mathematical formula we don’t understand as the product of a brilliant mind, while rejecting a new art form we don’t understand as the product of a deranged mind?
The profound immoralities of our time are cruelty, indifference, injustice and the use of others as means rather than ends in themselves.
When we inform, we lead from strength; when we communicate, we lead from weakness – and it is precisely this confession of mortality that engages the ears, heads and hearts of those we want to enlist as allies in a common cause.