What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore?

Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.

Recorded · You Learn by Living (1960), Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, The George Washington University, 1960 · source

So I wish to you—I have no more time, so I have just one wish for you—the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom. May I also give you one last bit of advice: Never say that you'll give a talk unless you know clearly what you're going to talk about and more or less what you're going to say.

Recorded · Caltech commencement address, Pasadena, California, Caltech Engineering and Science (Caltech Library archive), 1 June 1974 · source

Always remember that it's much easier to apologize than to get permission. In this world of computers, the best thing to do is to do it.

Recorded · Lake Forest College, Chicago Tribune, 9 December 1982 (via Quote Investigator), 9 December 1982 · source

When I recall my own path of life I cannot but speak of the violence, hatred and lies. A lesson drawn from such experiences, however, was that we can effectively oppose violence only if we ourselves do not resort to it.

Recorded · Oslo City Hall (lecture read on his behalf by Bogdan Cywiński), The Nobel Foundation, 11 December 1983 · source

History was not written by men who predicted failure, who gave up their dreams, who abandoned their principles, who allowed their laziness to put their intelligence to sleep. If certain men at times were alone in seeking victory, they always had at their side the watchful spirit of their peoples, the faith and destiny of many generations.

Recorded · Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 11 December 1987 · source

You never follow the crowd. You work things out for yourself. And therefore if you think differently from the crowd, you must put your own view and try to get people taking your line. But you never follow the crowd. You never do things just because other people are doing them.

Recorded · Chris Ogden, Time magazine, No. 10 Downing Street, Margaret Thatcher Foundation, from Thatcher MSS (Churchill Archive Centre), 16 January 1989 · source

The sky has turned brighter. There is a glorious rainbow that beckons those with the spirit of adventure. And there are rich findings at the end of that rainbow. To the young and the not too old, I say, look at the horizon, find that rainbow, go ride it. Not all will be rich; quite a few will find a vein of gold; but all who pursue that rainbow will have a joyous and exhilarating ride and some profit.

Recorded · Singapore Press Club (title proposed by the Club), Singapore Press Club, Petir (People's Action Party), reproducing the speech in full, 7 June 1996 · source

Having advanced well beyond what the French call "a certain age," I am often asked to convey to younger people helpful advice and counsel. So I will open these remarks with the best advice I ever received. The advice, which I have several times shared with others, was given to me by my mother-in-law on my wedding day. She had a prescription for a happy, enduring marriage: "It pays," she said, "it pays sometimes to be a little deaf."

Recorded · New York Law School Law Review dinner, on accepting the Froessel Award, New York Law School Law Review (digitalcommons.nyls.edu), 12 February 1999 · source

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Recorded · Stanford University 114th Commencement, Stanford News (Stanford University), 12 June 2005 · source

So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

Recorded · Harvard University Commencement, 2008, Harvard Gazette, 5 June 2008 · source

One day, I spoke to him about my sense of shame. He looked me in the eyes and told me that brewing was a science; it was not about getting drunk. He did not stop there. He said: 'Do not make judgment on things, people, and issues with half information.' He said there is truth in everything you see around. So, look for everything in its entirety. That was a game-changing moment for me.

Recorded · Subroto Bagchi, Forbes India, 3 September 2009 · source

Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.

Recorded · The Guardian Review, 20 February 2010 · source

Write slowly and by hand only about subjects that interest you. […] Develop craftsmanship through years of wide reading.

Recorded · The Guardian Review, 20 February 2010 · source

My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.”

Recorded · Princeton University Baccalaureate, Class of 2010, 30 May 2010 · source

I would hope that most of you will in fact strive for leadership in a principled manner with values, because that would be the foundation that this country needs to have if it is to take its place in the world. I would hope that each of you would lead by example and that each of you would live by the principles that you espouse.

Recorded · Indian School of Business, Hyderabad — graduation address, Rediff Business, 11 June 2010 · source

So I urge my sisters, and my brothers, not to be afraid. Be not afraid to denounce injustice, though you may be outnumbered. Be not afraid to seek peace, even if your voice may be small. Be not afraid to demand peace.

Recorded · Oslo City Hall, The Nobel Foundation, 10 December 2011 · source

I know it is utterly fanciful to expect professional cricketers to play the game like amateurs; but the trick, I believe, is taking the spirit of the amateur - of discovery, of learning, of pure joy, of playing by the rules - into our profession. Taking it to practice or play, even when there's an epidemic of white-line fever breaking out all over the field.

Recorded · Bradman Oration, Anzac Hall, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ESPNcricinfo, 14 December 2011 · source

Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned about doing good work and protect your work. […] Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.

Recorded · Christian Lund, Louisiana Literature festival, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012, Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 24 August 2012 · source

Life doesn't offer you the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. Opportunities come when you least expect them ... Rarely are opportunities presented to you in a perfect way. In a nice little box with a yellow bow on top. ‘Here, open it, it's perfect. You'll love it.’ Opportunities -- the good ones -- are messy, confusing and hard to recognize. They're risky. They challenge you.

Recorded · Johns Hopkins University Commencement, Class of 2014, HuffPost, May 2014 · source

You must find a way to get in the way, you must find a way to get into trouble — good trouble, necessary trouble.

Recorded · Emory University Quadrangle, Atlanta, Emory News Center, Emory University, 12 May 2014 · source