True worth is determined by effort, not by what you are

It is important to remember that your worth as a person is not based on your profession. It is not based on wealth, fame or academic credentials. What counts is how hard you have striven in your chosen path, how much good you have accomplished, how earnestly you have devoted your energies to it. It is your spirit of devotion, your sincerity, that determines your true worth.
[BDBD-265]

Find time to read

If you make the time -- for example, ten minutes in the morning, ten in the afternoon and ten at night -- you'll be able to read a total of thirty minutes each day. You'll often find that you read with much greater concentration in those precious moments of time set aside amid a busy schedule. It usually leaves a much deeper impression than reading done at a more leisurely pace.
[GT4-254]

Let's not forget our debts of gratitude

Looking at the world today, there are very few people with a proper sense of appreciation and gratitude. Ingratitude is the root of society's troubles. A family is in trouble when the children forget to be grateful and appreciative of their parents. And when leaders in society forget to appreciate and be grateful to the people, they invariably grow arrogant and begin to go off course.
[Adapted from ST330-4]

Let's first reform ourselves...

A great inner revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of an entire society and, further, will cause a change in the destiny of humankind.
[BDBD-214]

It's only through suffering that one can appreciate happiness

...It is those who have suffered through life's darkest hours who are able to truly savour the bright dawn of happiness. The person who has transformed the worst of fate into the best of fortune is life's champion.
[BDBD-222]

Just give your best. Don't be cowardly

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 all-out? To give up even before you've tried is actually arrogance... It is cowardly.
[BDBD-223]

What is the purpose of life and education?

What is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of learning? Without a profound philosophy that addresses these questions, our lives will be superficial and shallow. How can we deepen ourselves as individuals? How can we attain a rich, fulfilling view of what it means to be a human being? And how can we lead lives that make the most of our potential? These are the basic questions we face in life.
[GT5-197]