And then the final great tragedy of the distorted personality is the fact that when one fails to harness this instinct, he ends up trying to push others down in order to push himself up. And whenever you do that, you engage in some of the most vicious activities. You will spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on people, because you are trying to pull them down in order to push yourself up. And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct.
Admit it, it is your youth that you regret, more even than your crime; it is my youth you hate, even more than my innocence.
I grew up in Long Island and went to school in upstate New York. Everyone gravitates towards big city characters. But I'm drawn towards antiheroes, not your normal kind of leading me.
We light the oven so that everyone may bake bread in it. If I survive, I will spend my whole life at the oven door seeing that no one is denied bread and, so as to give a lesson of charity, especially those who did not bring flour.
Life on earth is a hand-to-hand mortal combat between the law of love and the law of hate.
There are very few old people who are happy. When their minds stop thinking about the present and the future and stay wrapped in the past, they are awfully dull. I don't want old dears saying, How old do you think I am? 48? No, I'm 78 and I've got all your records! Then I think it's time they should grow up!
Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.
Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.
You become that which you think you are. Or, it is not that you become it, but that the idea gets very deeply rooted, and that's what all conditioning is.
We live not in order to eat, but in order not to know what we feel like eating.