“Better a living beggar than a buried emperor.”

Imitators are a slavish herd and fools in my opinion.

We ought never to scoff at the wretched, for who can be sure of continued happiness?

Let fools the studious despise, There’s nothing lost by being wise.

From a distance it is something; and nearby it is nothing.

Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend; a wise enemy is worth more.

The finest victory is to conquer one’s own heart.

Every flatterer lives at the expense of him who listens to him.

A grand comedy in one hundred different acts, On the stage of the universe.

He knoweth the universe, and himself he knoweth not.

Better to rely on one powerful king than on many little princes.

Foxes are all tail, and women all tongue.

In everything we ought to look at the end.

The strongest passion is fear.

One returns to the place one came from.

It is twice the pleasure to deceive the deceiver.

By time and toil we sever What strength and rage could never.

For one who knows me, I am one with him; for one who wants to know me, I am very near to him; and for one who does not know me, I am a beggar before him.

Make of the Silence your to-do tasks, of the compassion your wealth and of the meditation your beggar’s bowl.

All true language is incomprehensible, like the chatter of a beggar’s teeth.

Love is bitter and all there is, and that the rest is for the emotional beggars of the earth.

Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.

In ease of body, peace of mind, all the different ranks of life are nearly upon a level and the beggar who suns himself by the side of the highway, possesses that security which kings are fighting for.

Modesty is of no use to a beggar.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.