It is unlikely that the good of a snail should reside in its shell: so is it likely that the good of a man should?

It is difficulties that show what men are.

Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcome.

When you actively engage in gradually refining yourself, you retreat from your lazy ways of covering yourself or making excuses. Instead of feeling a persistent current of low-level shame, you move forward by using the creative possibilities of this moment, your current situation.

Confidence in nonsense is a requirement for the creative process.

It is better to advise than upbraid, for the one corrects the erring; the other only convicts them.

When we name things correctly, we comprehend them correctly, without adding information or judgements that aren't there. Does someone bathe quickly? Don't say be bathes poorly, but quickly. Name the situation as it is, don't filter it through your judgments. Give your assent only to that which is actually true.