“But assuredly Fortune rules in all things; she raised to eminence or buries in oblivion everything from caprice rather than from well-regulated principle.”

Among intellectual pursuits, one of the most useful is the recording of past events.

Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.

Necessity makes even the timid brave.

In battle it is the cowards who run the most risk; bravery is a rampart of defense.

The renown which riches or beauty confer is fleeting and frail mental excellence is a splendid and lasting possession.

Poor Britons, there is some good in them after all – they produced an oyster.

Of the cosmic Gods some make the world be, others animate it, others harmonize it, consisting as it does of different elements; the fourth class keep it when harmonized.

It is a law of human nature that in victory even the coward may boast of his prowess, while defeat injures the reputation even of the brave.

We employ the mind to rule, the body to serve.

To desire the same things and to reject the same things, constitutes true friendship.

Of the bodies in the cosmos, some imitate mind and move in orbits; some imitate soul and move in a straight line, fire and air upward, earth and water downward.

They envy the distinction I have won; let them therefore, envy my toils, my honesty, and the methods by which I gained it.

In my opinion, he only may be truly said to live and enjoy his being who is engaged in some laudable pursuit, and acquires a name by some illustrious action, or useful art.

The very life which we enjoy is short.

For harmony makes small states great, while discord undermines the mightiest empires.

A good man prefers to suffer rather than overcome injustice with evil.