Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig.

Appear to know only this--never to fail nor fall.

Were I a nightingale, I would act the part of a nightingale; were I a swan, the part of a swan.

Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.