“One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them
“To prejudge other men's notions before we have looked into them is not to show their darkness but to put out our own eye
“The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable of any we have
“To criticize is to appreciate, to appropriate, to take intellectual possession, to establish in fine a relation with the criticized thing and to make it one's own.
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young
“While one finds company in himself and his pursuits, he cannot feel old, no matter what his years may be
“True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment
“A fool often fails because he thinks what is difficult is easy, a wise man because he thinks what is easy is difficult
“It is well for people who think to change their minds occasionally in order to keep them clean. For those who do not think, it is best to at least rearrange their prejudices once in a while
“Less than fifteen percent of the people do any original thinking on any subject . . . The greatest torture in the world for most people is to think
“The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration
“The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled
“What occasions the greater part of the world's quarrels? Simply this: Two minds meet and do not understand each other in time enough to prevent any shock of surprise at the conduct of either party
“I have discovered the secret of happiness - it is work, either with the hands or the head. The moment I have something to do, the draughts are open and my chimney draws, and I am happy
“Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue.
“An education which does not cultivate the will is an education that depraves the mind. An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don't
“Only love is not enough any more for remaining nearness. Today you need all your mind for a wonderful marriage. Stop in our hectic times deliberately and daily getting power only for both of you