“To accept reason is impossible if you don’t already possess it.”

“It is difficult, if not impossible, to define the limit of our reasonable desires in respect of possessions.”

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”

“You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell.”

“And make no mistake: irony tyrannizes us. The reason why our pervasive cultural irony is at once so powerful and so unsatisfying is that an ironist is impossible to pin down. All U. S. irony is based on an implicit "I don’t really mean what I’m saying." So what does irony as a cultural norm mean to say? That it’s impossible to mean what you say? That maybe it’s too bad it’s impossible, but wake up and smell the coffee already? Most likely, I think, today’s irony ends up saying: "How totally banal of you to ask what I really mean."”

“You are not poor only in the lack of possessions, but also in your way of reasoning.”

“If you possess the ability to learn from your mistakes, then failure is literally impossible, because each rejection brings you closer to perfection.”

“Don’t accumulate possessions; accumulate experiences!”

“If a man knows what it is right to do, he does not require a formal reason. And a person that has been thus trained, either possesses these first principles already, or can easily acquire them.”

“Accept the children the way we accept trees—with gratitude, because they are a blessing—but do not have expectations or desires. You don’t expect trees to change, you love them as they are.”