“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”
“It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid with regard to external things. Don't wish to be thought to know anything; and even if you appear to be somebody important to others, distrust yourself.”
“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 that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
“Circumstances don't make the man, they only reveal him to himself.”
“The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.”
“If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write.”
“Don't put your purpose in one place and expect to see progress made somewhere else.”
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”