“It is when fortune is the most propitious that she is least to be trusted.”

From abundance springs safety.

Under the influence of fear, which always leads men to take a pessimistic view of things, they magnified their enemies’ resources, and minimized their own.

Adversity makes men remember God.

There is nothing that is more often clothed in an attractive garb than a false creed.

Prosperity engenders sloth.

Men are seldom blessed with good fortune and good sense at the same time.

The troubles which have come upon us always seem more serious than those which are only threatening.

A certain peace is better and safer than a victory in prospect; the former is at your own disposal, the latter depends upon the gods.

We can endure neither our vices nor their cure.

In grave difficulties, and with little hope, the boldest measures are the safest.

This was the Athenians’ war against the King of Macedon, a war of words. Words are the only weapons the Athenians have left.

When Tarquin the Proud was asked what was the best mode of governing a conquered city, he replied only by beating down with his staff all the tallest poppies in his garden.

No wickedness proceeds on any grounds of reason.

Never is work without reward, or reward without work.

Valor is the soldier’s adornment.

He is truly a man who will not permit himself to be unduly elated when fortune’s breeze is favorable, or cast down when it is adverse.

Pantagruelism is a certain gaitey of the spirit consisting in a disdain for the hazards of fortune.

One should never pursue the hazards of fortune to their very ends andit behooves all adventurers to treat their good luck with reverence, neither bothering nor upsetting it.

That which we acquire with the most difficulty we retain the longest; as those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.

Against fortune the carter cracks his whip in vain.

Fortune, like other females, prefers a lover to a master, and submits with impatience to control; but he that wooes her with opportunity and importunity will seldom court her in vain.

No matter how much money, fame, and fortune you have, it doesn’t mean sh** if it’s not connected with love.

It is a great good fortune, as Stendhal said, for one “to have his passion as a profession.

I’m just a kid from Bronx who got lucky.