If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.
The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
From the point of view of the playwright, then, the essence of a tragedy, or even of a serious play, is the spiritual awakening, or regeneration, of his hero.
Remember, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
If you have everything under control, you're not moving fast enough.
Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.
open me carefully
The very essence of romance is uncertainty.
I heard what you said. I’m not the silly romantic you think. I don’t want the heavens or the shooting stars. I don’t want gemstones or gold. I have those things already. I want…a steady hand. A kind soul. I want to fall asleep, and wake, knowing my heart is safe. I want to love, and be loved.
The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.
Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.
I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think
Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.
The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.
“[Dean] “My dear fellow, who will let you?” [Roark] “That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?”
Books are a uniquely portable magic.
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.
I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.
It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.