“Call no man happy before he dies.”

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.

If one is sufficiently lavish with time, everything possible happens.

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.

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.

Men trust their ears less than their eyes.