“One should practice much sense, not much learning.”

Sexual intercourse is a slight attack of apoplexy.

The wise man’s home is the universe.

Everywhere man blames nature and fate yet his fate is mostly but the echo of his character and passion, his mistakes and his weaknesses.

Good breeding in cattle depends on physical health, but in men on a well-formed character.

Nature and education are somewhat similar. The latter transforms man, and in so doing creates a second nature.

The brave man is not only he who overcomes the enemy, but he who is stronger than pleasures.

The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world.

Moderation multiplies pleasures, and increases pleasure.

In a shared fish, there are no bones.

Medicine heals diseases of the body, wisdom frees the soul from passions.

Hope of ill gain is the beginning of loss.

No power and no treasure can outweigh the extension of our knowledge.

Happiness does not reside in strength or money; it lies in rightness and many-sidedness.

My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me.

Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man.

Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is silly, the latter a mark of prudence.

Learn what the rest of the world is like. The variety is worthwhile.

Neither comprehension nor learning can take place in an atmosphere of anxiety.

Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes, and learn what not to do, and that’s the end of you.

Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves.

I learned from my father to translate: everything I read I try to figure out what it really means, what it’s really saying.

Well, the thing that I learned as a diplomat is that human relations ultimately make a huge difference.

I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!

Later I learned to improve my forecasting—if necessary by asking the visitor in advance what subjects he intended to raise with Nixon.