The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.

Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made.

Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.

To write well, express yourself like common people, but think like a wise man. Or, think as wise men do, but speak as the common people do.

The proof that you know something is that you are able to teach it.

The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain.

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Pain can change you, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a bad change. Take that pain and turn it into wisdom.

When we are motivated by compassion and wisdom, the results of our actions benefit everyone, not just our individual selves or some immediate convenience. When we are able to recognize and forgive ignorant actions of the past, we gain strength to constructively solve the problems of the present.

Instead of trying to resolve our differences by force, we must talk and enter into dialogue. This is not a sign of weakness, but of wisdom — a realistic approach.

A spoon cannot taste of the food it carries. Likewise, a foolish man cannot understand the wise man’s wisdom even if he associates with a sage.

An open heart is an open mind.

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Don’t listen to the person who has the answers; listen to the person who has the questions.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them. 

A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman, the understanding; a pure one, the soul.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18.

A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.

What I see is a certain something, desolate and grey as infinity. I do not believe that the structure of the human brain is to be blamed for the fact that man cannot grasp infinity.

From infancy, I have relied on the fiercely sweet spirits of black men; and this is abundantly clear in my work.

We should learn to accept that change is truly the only thing that's going on always, and learn to ride with it and enjoy it.

I'm for women choosing whatever they want to do but they have to really know what they are doing.