If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.

When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.

When you learn not to want things so badly, life comes to you.

He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men hath a great task; but that is ever good for the read more

He that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men hath a great task; but that is ever good for the public. But he that plots to be the only figure amongst ciphers is the decay of a whole age.

Persons of high self-esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek to prove their read more

Persons of high self-esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek to prove their value by measuring themselves against a comparative standard. Their joy is being who they are, not in being better than someone else.

Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it read more

Most people can't think, most of the remainder won't think, the small fraction who do think mostly can't do it very well. The extremely tiny fraction who think regularly, accurately, creatively, and without self-delusion- in the long run, these are the only people who count.

The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one read more

The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self.

The rational individualist is not the enemy of benevolence or civility, but their truest exemplar.

The rational individualist is not the enemy of benevolence or civility, but their truest exemplar.

If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.

If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.

Every intense desire is perhaps a desire to be different from what we are.

Every intense desire is perhaps a desire to be different from what we are.