Know thyself? A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever observes himself arrests his own development. A caterpillar who wanted to know itself well would never become a butterfly.
A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do, nothing else.
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
The basic problem is that our civilization, which is a civilization of machines, can teach man everything except how to be a man.
The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without 'playing up' to anyone - even to himself.
The most important thing in life is to see to it that you are never beaten.
Be careful -- with quotations, you can damn anything.
The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.
As for courage and will - we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.
What makes something special is not just what you have to gain, but what you feel there is to lose.