Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognises genius.

We think too small. Like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view.

Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did andit never will.

Don'tcut off your nose to spite your face.

A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor is a man perfected without trials.

Nothing is greater impediment to being on good terms with other than being ill at ease with yourself.

The exercise of power is determined by thousands ofinteractions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, allthe more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyonehas a small part of himself in both.

Talkingjaw-jaw is always better than war-war.

No man is the whole himself; his friends are the rest of him.

By despising all that has preceded us, we teach others to despise ourselves.

Whenevertwo people meet there are really six people present. There is each man as he seeshimself, each man as the other sees him, and each man as he really is.