"Death is not natural for a state as it is for a human being, for whom death is not only necessary, but frequently even desirable."

"It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as though sorrow would be made less by baldness."

"Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability."

"Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error."

"The point is not to take the world's opinion as a guiding star but to go one's way in life and working unerringly, neither depressed by failure nor seduced by applause."

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."

"At 18, I guarded the parking lot at the Catholic church bingos. Now my dad made sure I could take care of myself. I carried a Smith and Wesson 357 magnum."

"Kindness is the invisible thread that binds all kindred spirits together. Such is the immutable nature of understanding — an essential principle for the reflective life."