He who can take no interest in what is small will take false interest in what is great.

He who can take no interest in what is small will take false interest in what is great.

The envious only hate the excellence they cannot reach.

The envious only hate the excellence they cannot reach.

If we do not believe in ourselves- neither in our efficacy nor in our goodness- the universe is a frightening read more

If we do not believe in ourselves- neither in our efficacy nor in our goodness- the universe is a frightening place.

Just as some plants bear fruit only if they don't shoot up too high, so in practical arts the leaves read more

Just as some plants bear fruit only if they don't shoot up too high, so in practical arts the leaves and flowers of theory must be pruned and the plant kept close to its proper soil- experience.

Psychoanalysis is the mental illness it purports to cure.

Psychoanalysis is the mental illness it purports to cure.

Veracity is the heart of morality.

Veracity is the heart of morality.

Thus we find that people who fail in everyday affairs show a tendency to reach out for the impossible. They read more

Thus we find that people who fail in everyday affairs show a tendency to reach out for the impossible. They become responsive to grandiose schemes, and will display unequaled steadfastness, formidable energies and a special fitness in the performance of tasks which would stump superior people. It seems paradoxical that defeat in dealing with the possible should embolden people to attempt the impossible, but a familiarity with the mentality of the weak reveals that what seems a path of daring is actually an easy way out: It is to escape the responsibility for failure that the weak so eagerly throw themselves into grandiose undertakings. For when we fail in attaining the impossible we are justified in attributing it to the magnitude of the task.

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which read more

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.

Blaming "society" makes it awfully easy for a person of weak character to shrug off his own responsibility for his read more

Blaming "society" makes it awfully easy for a person of weak character to shrug off his own responsibility for his actions.