All men have an instinct for conflict: at least, all healthy men.

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

“Men forget where the way leads and what they meet with every day seems strange to them.We should not act and speak like men asleep.” 

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river, and it's not the same man.” 

“History is a child building a sandcastle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man's power in the world.” 

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” 

“Man's character is his fate.” 

“Man's greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.” 

“Men talk of the Negro problem. There is no Negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have honesty enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough to live up to their Constitution” 

“There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven, that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.” 

“I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me. There was no getting rid of it. It was pressed upon me by every object within sight or hearing, animate or inanimate.” 

“A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.” 

I have known war as few men now living know it. It's very destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling international disputes.

Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

“In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.” 

“A man with no philosophy in him is the most inauspicious and unprofitable of all possible social mates.” 

Failure either ruins you or turns you into the man you can become.

“I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs.”

Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all her perfection.

“but the bravest man among us is afraid of himself” 

“Believe me, no civilized man ever regrets a pleasure, and no uncivilized man ever knows what a pleasure is.” 

"What has the actual lapse of time got to do with it? It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion. A man who is master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.” 

We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds… A nation of men will for the first time exist, because each believes himself inspired by the Divine Soul which also inspires all men.