To be alive is sufficient evidence that we are needed in the world. Otherwise we wouldn't be here.

You can never be free from limitation until you are willing to recognize that you and you alone are responsible for what you are. After you have passed infancy you are not a victim of anything but your own thinking.

a diplomat ... is not worthy of the name unless he can say 'no' and make the other person like it - or at least not be offended by it.

All life is a delusion of the senses.

Speaking of opinions, the charming woman does not air hers very freely. The crude woman is eager to let you know what she thinks of every matter, person or object that bobs up. She comments on every passing item - even in public, as you may have noticed. Not only is it bad taste for her to be so desperately interested in her own reactions and opinions - but she throws away the precious aura of reserve and mystery that makes a woman attractive.

The hope of any nation lies in the personal qualities of its individual members.

No one could have been more surprised than I at my successes, and yet deep within me there was acknowledgment that had I not succeeded, I would have been equally surprised.