“Nothing cruel is in fact beneficial; for cruelty is extremely hostile to the nature of man, which we ought to follow.”

To be rather than to seem.

Endless money forms the sinews of war.

Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.

Cultivation of the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.

The causes of events are ever more interesting than the events themselves.

In all matters, before beginning, a diligent preparation should be made.

To make a mistake is only human; to persist in a mistake is idiotic.

The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.

We are bound by the law, so that we may be free.

Instead let Virtue herself, by her own unaided allurements, summon you to a glory that is genuine and real.

A man of faith is also full of courage.

The life of the dead is set in the memory of the living.

Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.

Dogs wait for us faithfully.

If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.

I’m a strong person, I’m a strong family man, I’m a strong husband and a strong father.

The man of action is not the headstrong fool who rushes into danger with no thought for himself, but the man who puts into practice the things he knows.

Tell me to calm down. Go ahead. Tell me I’m crazy. Tell me how it actually works. Try to make me feel small and insignificant. But I see you. For the insecure, power clutching man you are. Good luck. You need it.

I am a man who belongs to no-one and who belongs to everyone.

Don’t ask a man what is important to him. Watch how he spends his time

The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do that counts.

Most men fail, not through lack of education or agreeable personal qualities, but from lack of dogged determination, from lack of dauntless will.

How can I explain the difference to me between America and Russia? the America I’ve known is a place where men on horseback escort union marchers, the Russia I’ve known is a place where men on horseback slaughter young Socialists and Jews.