The major problem of life is learning how to handle the costly interruptions. The door that slams shut, the plan that got sidetracked, the marriage that failed. Or that lovely poem that didn't get written because someone knocked on the door.

Take the first step. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

To attempt radical reform without adequate organization is like trying to sail a boat without a rudder.

And when you discover what you're going to be in life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. And

The man was dressed only in his Burberry overcoat, his trousers, and an unlaced pair of canvas shoes. As he fell over, his Burberry, which had been simply thrown round his shoulders, slipped off, exposing his trunk.

But is it coincidence? Are there not subtle forces at work of which we know little?

Now, Jack, is there anything you would like? The youth pondered for a moment. I'd like a shillin', said he. Nothing you would like better? I'd like two shillin' better, the prodigy answered after some thought.

Spinoza says that if a stone which has been projected through the air, had consciousness, it would believe that it was moving of its own free will. I add this only, that the stone would be right. The impulse given it is for the stone what the motive is for me, and what in the case of the stone appears as cohesion, gravitation, rigidity, is in its inner nature the same as that which I recognise in myself as will, and what the stone also, if knowledge were given to it, would recognise as will.

You can do what you will: but at each given moment of your life you can will only one determined thing and by no means anything other than this one.

Genius is an intellect that has become unfaithful to its destiny.

The greatest intellectual capacities are only found in connection with a vehement and passionate will.

Whatever fate befalls you, do not give way to great rejoicings or great lamentation; partly because all things are full of change, and your fortune may turn at any moment; partly because men are so apt to be deceived in their judgment as to what is good or bad for them.