You can't go very far if you don't begin very near.

Self-trust is the first secret of success.

It's better to let someone think you are an Idiot than to open your mouth and prove it.

Two prisonerswhose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. Thewall is the thing which separates them but is also their means ofcommunication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.

Whateverfailures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies Ihave witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of actionwithout thought.

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire isthat which he exercises over himself.

The exercise of power is determined by thousands ofinteractions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, allthe more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyonehas a small part of himself in both.

To pushadvantages too far is neither generous nor just.

The more faithfully you listen to the voice withhin you, the batter you will hear what is sounding outside.And only he who listens can speak.

The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.

You're ina much better position to talk with people when they approach you than whenyou approach them.

I have never been able to conceive how any rational beingcould propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.