“Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.”

It is the wise man’s part to leave in darkness everything that is ugly.

Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.

Action achieves more than words.

Man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.

The man is happiest who lives from day to day and asks no more, garnering the simple goodness of life.

Death is the only water to wash away this dirt.

The same man cannot well be skilled in everything; each has his special excellence.

No one who lives in error is free.

Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything.

Old loves are dropped when new ones come.

Who then will dare to say I’m weak or timid? No, they’ll say I’m loyal as a friend, ruthless as a foe, so much like a hero destined for glory.

She came into the world fierce and stubborn and then she learned to hate.

Mortal fate is hard. You’d best get used to it.

Silence is true wisdom’s best reply.

Wine is a terrible foe, hard to wrestle with.

Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.

Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Character is destiny.

The character of our country is on the ballot.

A man’s character is his fate.

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

If you say that you’re humble, you’re not humble. You gotta wait until somebody tells you that you’re humble.

The real test of character is how you treat someone who has no possibility of doing you any good.

What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.