The wound is the place where the light enters you.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life.

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions.

Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.

Demand not that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.

You may be unconquerable, if you enter into no combat in which it is not in your own power to conquer.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

Does it pass you by? Do not stop it. Is it not yet come? Do not stretch your desire towards it, but wait till it reaches you.

If it be the author's pleasure you should act a poor man, a cripple, a governor, or a private person, see that you act it naturally.

If you desire philosophy, prepare yourself from the very first to be ridiculed and mocked by the multitude.

If you ever happen to turn your attention to externals in order to please anyone, be assured that you have ruined your scheme of life.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.

Never say about anything, 'I have lost it,' but only 'I have given it back.'

So long as you are allowed to keep it, take care of it as an innkeeper takes care of the property of a guest.

Whoever would be free, let him wish for nothing, have aversion to nothing, which depends on others; else he must necessarily be a slave.

When any one provokes you, know that it is your own opinion which has provoked you.

Practice not to be hurried away by the appearance; make delay, and you will more easily become master of yourself.

If a man has reported to you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make any defense, but say: 'He did not know the rest of my faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.'

Silence is a source of great strength.

No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time.

What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To throw away self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.

If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write. In general, whatever you would become, practice that very thing.

Curb your desires, don't set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.

Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.

Practice yourself, for heaven's sake, in little things; and thence proceed to greater.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.

Every habit and faculty is maintained and increased by the corresponding actions: the habit of walking by walking, the habit of running by running.

If you would not be of an angry temper, do not feed your habit; give it nothing which may increase the disorder.

For habit is first weakened and then entirely destroyed.

And what is your safety? Never to disobey God, never to accuse Him, never to find fault with anything He has given, never unwillingly to do or suffer anything that is necessary.

Never praise or blame any man because of the things that are common to all, but only for his opinions.

Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?

He is free who lives as he chooses; who is neither subject to compulsion, nor hindrance, nor violence.

Who, then, wishes to live in error? No one. Who wishes to live deceived, impetuous, dishonest, intemperate, complaining, abject? No one.

No bad man, then, lives as he wishes; and therefore no bad man is free.

How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself, and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason?

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

Let whatever appears to you to be best be to you an inviolable law.

By one day's defeat and giving way, virtue is either lost or preserved.

And you, even if you are not yet a Socrates, ought to live as one who wishes to be a Socrates.

The condition and characteristic of a philosopher is that he looks to himself for all help or harm.

The marks of a proficient man are that he censures no one, praises no one, blames no one, accuses no one, says nothing concerning himself as being any body, or knowing any thing.

Act without expectation.

He walks about with caution, like sick men, fearful of disturbing anything newly formed, until it attains proper stability.

He has suppressed all desire in himself, and transferred his aversion only to the things contrary to nature which are within his own power.

He uses moderate exertion in all things. If he appears foolish or ignorant, he does not care.

If you are told that another has spoken ill of you, do not answer him, but laugh, and say: 'The man was ignorant of my other faults, or he would not have mentioned these alone.'

Do not seek for things to happen the way you want them to; rather, wish that what happens happens the way it happens: then you will be happy.

Nature has given us one tongue, but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

Let not your mind be carried away by any sudden impression; but say, 'Wait for me a little, impression: let me see who you are, and whence you come; let me test you.'

Do you wish to please a man who does not please himself?

If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both played that poorly, and neglected that which you might have filled with credit.

As you take care not to step upon a nail, or turn your foot; so likewise take care not to hurt the ruling faculty of your mind.

And if we preserve this in every action, we shall enter upon the action with greater safety.

The body is to everyone the measure of the possessions proper for it, just as the foot is of the shoe.

If you exceed this, you must inevitably be carried forward to the precipice: just as in the case of a shoe, if you go beyond its fitness to the foot, it comes first to be gilded, then purple, and then studded with jewels.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

The Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.

Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect.

The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all of creation without trying to compete with it.

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable.

Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.

When you stand with both feet firmly on the ground, you will always keep your balance.

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

The ancient masters were profound and subtle. Their wisdom was unfathomable.

They were watchful, like men crossing a winter stream; alert, like men aware of danger; courteous, like visiting guests.

Who can wait quietly while the mud settles? Who can remain still until the right action arises by itself?

If you don't realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.

Other people are bright and confident; I alone seem dim and bewildered. Other people are clever and purposeful; I alone seem dull and clumsy.

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

If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become straight, let yourself be crooked.

If you want to be given everything, give everything up.

Because he does not compete, no one can compete with him.

He who stands on tiptoe doesn't stand firm. He who rushes ahead doesn't go far.

He who shines his own light doesn't shine. He who praises his own work doesn't achieve.

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.

The Master travels all day without leaving home. However splendid the views, she rests quietly in her being.

A good knot needs no rope and cannot be untied. A good traveler leaves no tracks.

The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle.

There is a time for being ahead, a time for being behind; a time for being in motion, a time for being at rest.

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.

Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know. Close your mouth, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare.

If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish.

If you want to take something, you must first give it. This is called the subtle perception of the way things are.

Fish cannot leave deep waters, and a country's weapons should not be displayed.

When they are transformed, and desire raises its head, I quell it with the nameless simplicity.

To see what is right and not do it is a lack of courage.

A truly good man is not aware of his goodness, and therefore is good. A foolish man tries to be good, and therefore is not.

That the soft overcomes the hard, and the yielding overcomes the rigid: everyone knows this, yet no one can put it into practice.

Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.

Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.

True words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not true. Good men do not argue; those who argue are not good.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under.

Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!

Do not grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.

In loneliness, the lonely one eats himself; in a crowd, the many eat him. Now choose.

Flee, my friend, into your solitude! I see you stung by poisonous flies. Flee where a rough, strong breeze blows!

Many a one cannot loosen his own fetters, but is nevertheless his friend's emancipator.

You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?

Let your love of life be love to your highest hope; and let your highest hope be the highest thought of life!

And life itself told me this secret: 'Behold,' it said, 'I am that which must always overcome itself.'

Our vanity is hardest to wound precisely when our pride has just been injured.

One loves ultimately one's desires, not the thing desired.

Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.

A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions—as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers, above all.

Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.

The charm of knowledge would be small if so much shame did not have to be overcome on the way to it.

Whoever reaches his ideal transcends it eo ipso.

Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.

Formula for my happiness: A Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal.

The doer alone learneth.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words.

My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity.

Live in conflict with your equals and with yourselves! Be robbers and conquerors as long as you cannot be rulers and possessors, you seekers of knowledge!

I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful.

Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer.

What does your conscience say? 'You shall become who you are.'

The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.

Whom do you call bad? Him who always wants to put to shame.

What is the seal of liberation? No longer being ashamed in front of oneself.

It is the quietest words that bring on the storm. Thoughts that come on doves' feet guide the world.

There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

A snake that cannot shed its skin must die. So firms the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.

All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.

He who has nothing to hide does not need to speak.

There is an innocence in admiration: it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might one day be admired.

The greatest events—they are not our loudest but our stillest hours.

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.

Ten times a day must thou overcome thyself: that imparteth a fine fatigue, and is poppy-juice to the soul.

Ten times must thou reconcile again with thyself; for overcoming is bitterness, and badly sleepeth the unreconciled.