Truth is no harlot who throws her arms round the neck of him who does not desire her; on the contrary, she is so coy a beauty that even the man who sacrifices everything to her can still not be certain of her favors.
Such is the emptiness of human enjoyment that we are always impatient of the present. Attainment is followed by neglect, and possession by disgust.
As for success, I don't care for it. It is a fragile thing.
All envy is proportionate to desire; we are uneasy at the attainments of another, according as we think our own happiness would be advanced by the addition of that which he withholds from us.
Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.
Man is not on this earth merely to be happy, or even to be simply honest. He is there to realize great things for humanity, to attain nobility and to surmount the vulgarity of almost everybody.
Equality would be a heaven, if we could attain it.
We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it.
Longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about.
Success as I see it is a result, not a goal.
I say that when you have perceived or attained the goal, compromises, renunciations, do not exist. If you have seen the goal, compromise ceases to exist. It is then a question of a different attitude.
How melancholy a thing is success. Whilst failure inspirits a man, attainment reads the sad prosy lesson that all our glories "Are shadows, not substantial things." Truly said the sayer, "disappointment is the salt of life" a salutary bitter which strengthens the mind for fresh exertion, and gives a double value to the prize.
Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.
Purity is something that cannot be attained except by piling effort upon effort.
That feeling of finishedness does not come all at once, and it is not easily won, but I think once you get there it is hard to go back.
Mastery, I learned, was not something genetic, or for a lucky few. It is something we can all attain if get rid of some misconceptions and gain clarity as to the required path.
Great men's honor ought always to be measured by the methods they made use of in attaining it.
Study as if you have not reached your goal - hold it as if you were afraid of losing what you have.
Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.
Seeing the Way is like going into a dark room with a torch; the darkness instantly departs, while the light alone remains. When the Way is attained and the truth is seen, ignorance vanishes and enlightenment abides forever.
One of the greatest of a great man's qualities is success; 't is the result of all the others; 't is a latent power in him which compels the favor of the gods, and subjugates fortune.
If you want it you must obtain it by great labor.
We have within reach, now, the attainment of almost every dream of mankind.
It's only when you abandon your ambitions that they become possible.
Whether the aim is in heaven or on earth, wisdom or wealth, the essential condition of its pursuit and attainment is always security and order.
