What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
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The American Mind
Franklin, Paine, Jefferson, Emerson, Thoreau — independence as a habit of thought.
It is not the length of life, but the depth of life.
All life is an experiment.
People only see what they are prepared to see.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
The only way to have a friend is to be one.
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, while he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere.
We aim above the mark to hit the mark.
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
The years teach much which the days never knew.
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
Speak what you think today in words as hard as cannon-balls, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today.
Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you.
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.
Men are born to succeed, not to fail.
Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
Dreams are the touchstones of our character.
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
I love to be alone. I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea.
The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Men have become the tools of their tools.
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
There are three sorts of people: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those who move.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.
Experience is the best teacher, but a fool will learn from no other.
He that can have patience can have what he will.
Well done is better than well said.
Lost time is never found again.
The world is run by the people who show up.
Most people die at twenty-five and aren't buried until they're seventy-five.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.
If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it.
No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.
Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government when it deserves it.
Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
These are the times that try men's souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.
Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant.
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home.
You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.
I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
A strong nature feels itself brought into the world for its own development and not for the approbation of the public.
The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.