“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”

No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew it was the greatest of evils.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

Be as you wish to seem.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

Let him who would move the world first move himself.

The answer I gave myself and the oracle was that it was to my advantage to be as I am.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.

I don’t know why I did it, I don’t know why I enjoyed it, and I don’t know why I’ll do it again.

Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.

I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.

Through your rags I see your vanity.

If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever.

Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.

As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.