“The process may seem strange and yet it is very true. I did not so much gain the knowledge of things by the words, as words by the experience I had of things.”

Those who receive with most pains and difficulty, remember best; every new think they learn, being, as it were, burnt and branded in on their minds.

Silence at the proper season is wisdom and better than any speech.

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

It does not follow, that because a particular work of art succeeds in charming us, its creator also deserves our admiration.

I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent than the extent of my power or possessions.

Of all the disorders in the soul, envy is the only one no one confesses to.

I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

It’s a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man’s oration, it is a very easy matter, but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.

Music, to create harmony, must investigate discord.

It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man, you will learn to limp.

The whole like of a man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it.

Adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.

No beast is more savage than man when possessed with power answerable to his rage.

But a man cannot by writing a bill of divorce to his vice get rid of all trouble at once, and enjoy tranquillity by living apart.

An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.

The superstitious man wishes he did not believe in gods, as the atheist does not, but fears to disbelieve in them.