Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self.

I think it will be found that experience, 

the true source and foundation of all knowledge, 

invariably confirms its truth.

I have steadily endeavoured to keep my mind free 

so as to give up any hypothesis, 

however much beloved 

(and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), 

as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it.

If you accept your limitations

 you go beyond them.

Let us be moral. 

Let us contemplate existence.

Basically, I have been compelled by curiosity.

The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest.

Better pass boldly into that other world, 

in the full glory of some passion, 

than fade and wither dismally with age.

Curiosity is the one thing invincible in Nature.

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason.

I pay no attention whatever 

to anybody's praise or blame. 

I simply follow my own feelings.

I pick my favourite quotations 

and store them in my mind as ready armour, 

offensive or defensive, 

amid the struggle of this turbulent existence.

I find we are growing serious, 

and then we are in great danger of being dull.

Wise men make more opportunities than they find.

Deep into that darkness peering, 

long I stood there, 

wondering, 

fearing, 

doubting, 

dreaming dreams 

no mortal ever dared to dream before.

Every crag 

and gnarled tree 

and lonely valley 

has its own strange and graceful legend 

attached to it.

No endeavour that is worthwhile 

is simple in prospect; 

if it is right, 

it will be simple in retrospect.

Living most of the time 

in a world created mostly in one's head 

does not make for an easy passage in the real world.

After some time, 

with my eyes closed, 

I began to enjoy this wonderful play of colours and forms, 

which it really was a pleasure to observe. 

Then I went to sleep 

and the next day I was fine. 

I felt quite fresh, 

like a newborn.

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties 

through my love for truth

 — and truth rewarded me.

He who lives in harmony with himself 

lives in harmony with the universe.

There is a single light of science, 

and to brighten it anywhere 

is to brighten it everywhere.

What is the good of your stars and trees, 

your sunrise and the wind, 

if they do not enter into our daily lives?

A people always ends by resembling its shadow.

Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas 

is to live like ants 

instead of like men.

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass, 

it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas.

The pursuit of perfection, then, 

is the pursuit of sweetness and light.

We haven't really paid much attention to thought as a process. 

We have engaged in thoughts, 

but we have only paid attention to the content, 

not to the process.

One eye sees, 

the other feels.

I don't pretend we have all the answers. 

But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.

An artist is a dreamer 

consenting to dream 

of the actual world.

Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough.

Imagination is the Discovering Faculty, 

pre-eminently. 

It is that which penetrates into the unseen worlds around us, 

the worlds of Science.

If my poetry aims to achieve anything, 

it's to deliver people 

from the limited ways 

in which they see 

and feel.

But however measurable, 

there is much more life in music 

than mathematics or logic 

ever dreamed of.

The work an unknown good man has done 

is like a vein of water flowing 

hidden underground, 

secretly making the ground green.

It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. 

Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog.

Of all tyrannies 

a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims 

may be the most oppressive.

Always be ready to speak your mind, 

and a base man will avoid you.

Existence is a strange bargain. 

Life owes us little; 

we owe it everything. 

The only true happiness comes
from squandering ourselves
for a purpose.

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.

There is only one failure in life possible, 

and that is 

not to be true 

to the best one knows.

There is a saying 

that every nice piece of work needs 

the right person 

in the right place 

at the right time.

The antiquity and general acceptance of an opinion is not assurance of its truth.

One of the truest tests of integrity 

is its blunt refusal to be compromised.

Eventually, 

my eyes were opened, 

and I really understood nature. 

I learned to love at the same time.

Earth is a flower 

and it's pollinating.

Keep true to the dreams of your youth.

There are mysteries which men can only guess at, 

which age by age they may solve only in part.