“But this I know: if all mankind were to take their troubles to market with the idea of exchanging them, anyone seeing what his neighbor’s troubles were like would be glad to go home with his own.”

Chances rule men and not men chances.

How can a monarchy be a suitable thing, which allows a man to do as he pleases with none to hold him to account. And even if you were to take the best man on earth, and put him into a monarchy, you put outside him the thoughts that usually guide him.

All men’s gains are the fruit of venturing.

Force has no place where there is need of skill.

When life is so burdensome death has become a sought after refuge.

Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.

There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob.

The Lacedaemonians fought a memorable battle; they made it quite clear that they were the experts, and that they were fighting against amateurs.

We are less convinced by what we hear than by what we see.

Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.

The worst part a man can suffer is to have insight into much and power over nothing.

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

My men have become women, but the women men.

The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act.

We have two useless gods who never leave our island, but like to dwell in it constantly, Poverty and Helplessness.

The ear is a less trustworthy witness than the eye.