There is always something abnormal and eccentric about men of genius. And why not? For genius itself is an abnormal birth and out of man’s ordinary centre.
A religion that takes no account of practical affairs, and does not help in them, is no religion.
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over other as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances.
The root cause of stress is the ego and the sense of identification with the body.
‘Maya’ arising from a combination of lust and desire is the force that drives a man to self-gratification – it bends the soul to the material world.
The first test of a truly great man is his humility.
There are many paths to the centre, but the signposts are all the same – passion, peace, love, and a reverence for life.
Suffering could build strength, but only if a person acknowledges his or her responsibility for whatever went wrong.
Knowledge is a child with its achievements, for it has found out something, it runs about the streets whooping and shouting; Wisdom conceals hers for a long time in a thoughtful and mighty silence.
We have to penetrate the cluttered noisiness of our mind and the world around us to reach where absolute silence alone remains. When we know silence, we shall know ourselves.
Before we can help others or influence the world, we need to possess three things: knowledge, experience, and power.
There are many things we do not like as we go through life, but if these are unalterable we must learn to adapt ourselves to existing conditions. It is no use fretting over what cannot be altered; we have to accept things as they are. Only by doing this shall we ever have a contented mind.
Any time you have difficulty making an important decision, you can be sure that it’s the result of being unclear about your values.
The richness of human experiences would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome.
We are not rich by what we possess but rather by what we can do without.
When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him. The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. All progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them for they are always there.
Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work, a life purpose; he has found it, and will follow it.
Mother Earth is having sufficient for man’s need but not for his greed.
Real glory springs from the conquest of ourselves, and without that, the conqueror is naught but the veriest slave.
Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones.
Strength of character consists of two things, power of will and power of self-restraint. It requires two things, therefore, for its existence, strong feelings and strong command over them.
Vacillation is the prominent feature of weakness of character.
Hypocrisy desires to seem good rather than to be so; honesty desires to be good rather than to seem so.
It is not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.
Reflect upon your blessings of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.
Introspection is a very healthy practice as long as you do not employ it to dwell on your weaknesses until you are plunged into depression, or into such feelings of guilt that you begin to hate yourself. This is a misuse and abuse of self-analysis.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.
Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth. To die as we should wish, we should live as we ought. To the good man death has no terror.
You cannot, in any given case, by any sudden and single effort, will to be true, if the habit of your life has been insincerity.
If courage is gone, then all is gone.
Habit and Change are the two opposite qualities of Human Nature. The one leads to fixation, and the other leads to explosion, if you fail to balance the one with the other.
Of all the gifts bestowed by nature on human beings, hearty laughter must be close to the top.
It is our feelings about things that torment us rather than the things themselves, it follows that blaming others is silly. Therefore, when we suffer setbacks, disturbances, or grief, let us never place the blame on others, but on our own attitudes.
Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and wrong. Because some time in our lives we would have been all of these ourselves.
Our privileges can be no greater than our obligations. The protection of our rights can endure no longer than the performance of our responsibilities.
Don’t talk about yourself; it will be done when you leave.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
A leader is a person you will follow to a place you wouldn’t go by yourself.
There is only one corner of the Universe you can be certain of improving and that’s your own self.
There is a certain degree of satisfaction in having the courage to admit one’s errors. It often helps solve the problem created by the error.
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organised life.
If you possess an ability that others do not, do not let it go to your head. Remember that it was God who chose to give you that ability over others.
Perceiving the world as ‘Me and mine’ gives rise to attachments, ‘You and yours’ to jealousy. Both deserve to be shunned.
I love those who criticize me – as they are my teachers in my path of self-growth.
The most beautiful experience is the mysterious. It is this fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.
Often people think opportunity is a matter of luck. I believe opportunities are all around us. Some seize them; others stand and let them pass by.
Money, you are the cause of the anxieties of life, and through you we go down to the grave before our time.
Those who think they have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.
Never depend on the admiration of others. There is no strength in it. Personal merit cannot be derived from an external source.
By a long habit of writing, one acquires a greatness of thinking, and a mastery of manners, which holiday writers, with ten times the genius, may vainly attempt to equal.
You have access to infinite wisdom and infinite support in every situation and under every given circumstance. But you have it only so far as you submit the ego to the higher self.
One of the greatest adventures in living is getting to know yourself better. It is a tragedy that some individuals spend lifetime going nowhere, bogged down in frustration, because they don’t know anything about themselves or how to cope with problems, many created by environment.
Confidence, like art, never comes from giving all the answers; it comes from being open to all the questions.
People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.
Politeness and consideration for others is like inventing pennies and getting dollars back.
You can’t undo the past… but you can certainly not repeat it.
Have the courage of your opinions. You must expect to be laughed at sometimes and it will do you no harm. There is nothing ridiculous in seeming to be what you really are, but a good deal in affecting to be what you are not.
Experience is a name everyone gives to his mistakes.
Do not expect too much and do not expect it too quickly. Everything comes to those who know how to wait.
Habit, if wisely and skilfully formed, becomes a second nature.
The chain of habit coils itself around the heart like a serpent, to gnaw and stifle it.
All philosophy lies in two words “sustain” and “abstain”.
Perpetual pushing and assurance put a difficulty out of countenance, and make a seeming impossibility give way.
He who seeks only applause from without, has all his happiness in another’s keeping.
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.