“It is right that the good should be happy, that the wicked and the impious on the other hand, should be miserable; that is a truth, I believe, which no one will gainsay.”

To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.

When men drink wine they are rich, they are busy, they push lawsuits, they are happy, they are friends.

Ah! the Generals! they are numerous, but not good for much!

A fox is subtlety itself.

There is no honest man! not one, that can resist the attraction of gold!

A man’s homeland is wherever he prospers.

Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a Centaur, a Part, or a Wolf, or a Bull?

It is bad taste for a poet to be coarse and hairy.

You vote yourselves salaries out of the public funds and care only for your own personal interests; hence the state limps along.

These impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: can’t live with them, or without them!

Hunger knows no friend but its feeder.

The gods, my dear simple fellow, are a mere expression coined by vulgar superstition. We frown upon such coinage here.

There is no beast, no rush of fire, like woman so untamed. She calmly goes her way where even panthers would be shamed.

By words the mind is winged.

Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before, advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in the steps they trod.

Tis not for us to warn a wilful sinner; We stay him not, but let him run his course, Till by misfortunes rous’d, his conscience wakes, And prompts him to appease th’ offended gods.

Four things for success: work and pray, think and believe.

If you look inside yourself, and you believe, you can be your own hero.

I also believe that everyone needs to think independently and make their own decisions on what makes the most sense.

Anarchy is the only slight glimmer of hope.

If anyone asks you for something that you believe would be injurious to him, refuse, but in such a manner as not to lose his good-will.

I want there to be a piece of me in my music, you know? I genuinely believe that’s the secret of all the success that’s happened (for me).

I believe that for the most part, achieving success – whatever that is for you – is mostly a matter of personal choice and that, initially, making the right choices can be difficult.

When I look at young kids today I just don’t believe it, parents take away the Gameboy and they’re suicidal. They cannot take the pressure.