“Everyone defends his treasure, and will do so automatically.The real questions are, what do you treasure, and how much do you treasure it? Once you have learned to consider these questions and to bring them into all your actions, you will have little difficulty in clarifying the means. The means are available whenever you ask. You can, however, save time if you do not protract this step unduly. The correct focus will shorten it immeasurably.”

“Do not be discouraged because you cannot learn all at once; learn one thingat a time, learn it well, and treasure it up, then learn another truth andtreasure that up, and in a few years you will have a great store of usefulknowledge....”

“Or I can forgive and forget...Oh, but my treasure, it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things...we always have a choice.”

“If you ask a living teacher a question, he will probably answer you. If you are puzzled by what he says, you can save yourself the trouble of thinking by asking him what he means. If, however, you ask a book a question, you must answer it yourself. In this respect a book is like nature or the world. When you question it, it answers you only to the extent that you do the work of thinking an analysis yourself.”

“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?" the boy asked."Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure.”

“Do you have the talent?' is rarely the question. 'Do you have the guts to finish?' is the real question.”