Echoes

If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants.

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.

Do not go by revelation; Do not go by tradition; Do not go by hearsay; Do not go on the authority of sacred texts; Do not go on the grounds of pure logic; Do not go by a view that seems rational; Do not go by reflecting on mere appearances; Do not go along with a considered view because you agree with it; Do not go along on the grounds that the person is competent; Do not go along because "the recluse is our teacher." Kalamas, when you yourselves know: These things are unwholesome, these things are blameworthy; these things are censured by the wise; and when undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill, abandon them... Kalamas, when you know for yourselves: These are wholesome; these things are not blameworthy; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness, having undertaken them, abide in them.

Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority.

Better be wise by the misfortunes of others than by your own.

To find yourself, think for yourself.

No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

Cherish that which is within you, and shut off that which is without; for much knowledge is a curse.

The world is nothing, the man is all; in yourself is the law of all nature, and you know not yet how a globule of sap ascends; in yourself slumbers the whole of Reason; it is for you to know all, it is for you to dare all.

Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge. Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the Truth as a refuge.

Not-knowing is true knowledge. Presuming to know is a disease.

I know that I know nothing.

Insist on yourself; never imitate.

He needs no library, for he has not done thinking; no church, for he is himself a prophet; no statute book, for he hath the Lawgiver; no money, for he is value itself; no road, for he is at home where he is.

Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss whatever insults your own soul.

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.

Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds… to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.

Do not follow in the footsteps of the old masters, but seek what they sought — and find it in the mountains, the rivers, and the open sky.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.

It is no use to preach to [children] if you do not act decently yourself.

Learn about pines from the pine, and about bamboo from the bamboo.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

I do not speak the minds of others except to speak my own mind better.