“For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.”

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet not withstanding go out to meet it.

I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.

He who graduates the harshest school, succeeds.

Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action.

You should punish in the same manner those who commit crimes with those who accuse falsely.

Mankind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity.

It is the habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire.

Still hope leads men to venture; and no one ever yet put himself in peril without the inward conviction that he would succeed in his design.

It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.

History is Philosophy teaching by example.

The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from these passions proceeded the violence of parties once engaged in contention.

The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.

When will there be justice in Athens? There will be justice in Athens when those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are.

I think the two things most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usaully goes hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind.

He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.

The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.

Godlike the man who sits at her side, who watches and catches that laughter which (softly) tears me to tatters: nothing is left of me, each time I see her.

Brains are still unfashionable for women to wear, and it has always been proof of women’s superiority that the more intelligent a man is, the more women admire him, while the bigger fool a woman is, the more men run after her.

I adore dark chocolate.

I never met Johnny Rotten, and I didn’t want to meet Johnny Rotten.

I love Tony Jaa. He’s one of the best and most capable martial arts stuntmen in the world.

Most of us have trouble juggling. The woman who says she doesn’t is someone whom I admire but have never met.

I’m very much an admirer of people who are reaching for things and trying to survive.

Something magical not just about who you are, but all you stand for.