It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude after our own; read more

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

His deeds inimitable, like the Sea
That shuts still as it opes, and leaves no tracts
Nor read more

His deeds inimitable, like the Sea
That shuts still as it opes, and leaves no tracts
Nor prints of Precedent for poore men's facts.

The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the read more

The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the achievement of the goal itself.

Instead of saying that man is the creature of circumstance, it would be nearer the mark to say that man read more

Instead of saying that man is the creature of circumstance, it would be nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstance. It is character which builds an existence out of circumstance. From the same materials one man builds palaces, another hovels; one warehouses, another villas; bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks until the architect can make them something else.

Deep in my heart I'm concealing things that I'm longing to say. Scared to confess what I'm feeling - frightened read more

Deep in my heart I'm concealing things that I'm longing to say. Scared to confess what I'm feeling - frightened you'll slip away.

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these help instead of hinder, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the read more

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these help instead of hinder, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fiber of a character, but strengthen it. Every conquered temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

Force and not opinion is the queen of the world; but it is
opinion that uses the force.
read more

Force and not opinion is the queen of the world; but it is
opinion that uses the force.
[Fr., La force est la reine du monde, et non pas l'opinion; mais
l'opinion est celle qui use de la force.]

All men that are ruined, are ruined on the side of their natural
propensities.

All men that are ruined, are ruined on the side of their natural
propensities.