It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses

We must not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time

The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent to the concerns of such puny creatures as we

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge

To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it the superficial appearance of being right

The secret of success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom

The bad artists imitate, the great artists steal

The world is my country, science is my religion

I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there

You think of yourself a great man because you live in a little world

Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits

More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent

The most obvious and important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about

Books are like seeds. They can lie dormant for centuries and then flower in the most unpromising soil

I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer

Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm

Humility is the mother of all virtues

I have not failed 700 times. I’ve succeeded in proving 700 ways how not to build a lightbulb

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self

He who doesn't know the past is doomed to repeat it

A greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances

Life is no ‘brief candle’ for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations

The unexamined life is not worth living

The best friend of a nation is he who most faithfully rebukes her for her sins

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something

Time sanctifies everything; even the most arrant theft, in the hands of the robber's grandchildren, becomes sacred and inviolable property

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist the facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts