Anyone who has ever made a resolution discovers that the strength of that determination fades in time. The moment you feel that is when you should make a fresh determination. Tell yourselves, "OK! I will start again from now!" If you fall down seven times, get up the eighth. Don't give up when you feel discouraged-just pick yourselves up and renew your determination each time.

Just as a diamond can only be polished by another diamond, it is only through genuine, all-out engagement with others that people can polish their character, and help each other to reach greater heights.

People shouldn't hesitate to exert their all, in a way true to themselves. How can you possibly ever know how far or fast you can go if you've never run all-out? To give up even before you've tried is actually arrogance—an affront to the wondrous power of life within you and disrespectful to yourself. It is cowardly.

The word "character" originated from the Greek words meaning "sculpture" and "impression." Character, then, could be thought of that which is shaped or etched. It may be true from a medical perspective that our psychological and physiological traits are generally predetermined genetically. Knowing this, however, adds little to our lives. All that matters is how we can better ourselves here and now.

One who has mastered himself is truly free. Freedom lies in the heart of the sage, servitude in the heart of the fool.

So many mistakes are made as the result of that tendency of people to ignore, overlook or disregard those facts that they find inconvenient or unpalatable.

An envious person does not look at those more capable than him and aspire to better himself; he plots to drag them down to his own level. Jealousy is simply an unwitting admittance of one's own flaws and failings.

On the flip side of arrogance lies cowardice—a lack of courage to face the truth. Likewise, discrimination and envy are also two sides of the same coin.

All great literature, ancient and modern, is a bridge connecting one human being to another, one spirit to another. The quality of our life is determined by how many of those bridges we can cross.