“Do as much as possible, and talk of yourself as little as possible.”

To someone seeking power, the poorest man is the most useful.

No grief reaches the dead.

By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.

Just to stir things up seemed a great reward in itself.

All who consult on doubtful matters, should be void of hatred, friendship, anger, and pity.

When the prizes fall to the lot of the wicked, you will not find many who are virtuous for virtue’s sake.

By the wicked the good conduct of others is always dreaded.

Deliberate before you begin; but, having carefully done so, execute with vigour.

The glory of wealth and of beauty is fleeting and frail; virtue is illustrious and everlasting.

It is impossible that there should be so much providence in the last details, and none in the first principles. Then the arts of prophecy and of healing, which are part of the cosmos, come of the good providence of the Gods.

All men who would surpass the other animals should do their best not to pass through life silently like the beasts whom nature made prone, obedient to their bellies.

The fame that goes with wealth and beauty is fleeting and fragile; intellectual superiority is a possession glorious and eternal.

It is always easy to begin a war, but very difficult to stop one.

There were few who preferred honor to money.

The firmest friendship is based on an identity of likes and dislikes.

Each man the architect of his own fate.

Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.

The awareness of our own strength makes us modest.

Perdomita Britannia et statim omissa. Britain was conquered and immediately lost.

The approbation of others is a stimulus of which one must sometimes be wary. The feeling of one’s own strength makes one modest.

Legions and fleets are not such sure bulwarks of imperial power as a numerous family

When a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.

After the modest success of my first film, I found it very daunting to have to live with that kind of burden of expectations.

Despite my extremely modest prices, dealers and art lovers are turning their backs on me. It is very depressing to see the lack of interest shown in an art object which has no market value.