"No single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born. It would be a bit too easy if we could go about borrowing ready-made souls."

"We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men."

"To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible."

"True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new."

"To me, growing old is great. It's the very best thing - considering the alternative."

"True authority is measured not by subjugation, but by the empowerment of others. In this truth lies the bedrock of all virtue."

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."

"It is a essential truth that an hour spent in deep contemplation is worth a year of unguided wandering — an essential principle for the reflective life."