Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a read more

Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test read more

Trials, temptations, disappointments -- all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fiber of character but strengthen it. Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find read more

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed.... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

It is always the best policy to speak the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.

If you love something let it go, and if it comes back - that doesn't mean a damn thing; it read more

If you love something let it go, and if it comes back - that doesn't mean a damn thing; it can just leave you again later.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

It has to be displayed, this face, on a more or less horizontal plane. Imagine a man wearing a mask, read more

It has to be displayed, this face, on a more or less horizontal plane. Imagine a man wearing a mask, and imagine that the elastic which holds the mask on has just broken, so that the man (rather than let the mask slip off) has to tilt his head back and balance the mask on his real face. This is the kind of tyranny which Lawson's face exerts over the rest of his body as he cruises along the corridors. He doesn't look down his nose at you, he looks along his nose.