Quotes to inspire and reflect

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.

The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability he has.

To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait until the other is ready.

Man loves company—even if it is only that of a small burning candle.

We cannot confront solitude without moral resources.

A peace which depends upon fear is nothing but a suppressed war.

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

The great tragedies of history occur not when right confronts wrong but when two rights confront each other.

Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.

It was the same with those old birds in Greece and Rome as it is now. The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.

The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine.

A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.

There is nothing so habit-forming as money.

When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will.

It is not the employer who pays—he only handles the money. It is the product that pays wages.

Knowing exactly how much of the future can be introduced into the present is the secret of a great government.

Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.

A country is considered the more civilized the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak or a powerful one too powerful.

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.

Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.

If a government commission had worked on the horse, you would have had the first horse that could operate its knee joint in both directions. The only trouble is it couldn’t have stood up.

When things don’t go well they like to blame presidents; and that’s something that presidents are paid for.

The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast cereal is the ultimate indignity to the democratic process.

Democracy is the art of disciplining oneself so that one need not be disciplined by others.

It’s not the hand that signs the laws that holds the destiny of America. It’s the hand that casts the ballot.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

The worst form of injustice is pretended justice.

Democracy means that if the doorbell rings in the early hours, it is likely to be the milkman.

I would uphold the law if for no other reason but to protect myself.

The ultimate solution to the race problem lies in the willingness of men to obey the unenforceable.

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.

That old law about “an eye for an eye” leaves everybody blind.

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.

To do injustice is more disgraceful than to suffer it.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

We are in bondage to the law in order that we may be free.

The defect of equality is that we desire it only with our superiors.

Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.

Patriotism is not so much protecting the land of our fathers as preserving the land of our children.

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.