“Remember what Simonides said, that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.”

Even those virtues that nature had denied him were imitated by him so successfully that he won more confidence than those who actually possessed them.

Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.

A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted.

We ought indeed to shrink from and feel shame at what is base, but nature which is over-cautious to avoid blame may be gentle and kindly, but cannot be great.

All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.

Painting is silent poetry.

They insist upon the shaving of the mustache, I think, in order that they may accustom the young men to obedience in the most trifling matters.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

Courage consists not in hazarding without fear, but being resolutely minded in a just cause.

Rather I fear on the contrary that while we banish painful thoughts we may banish memory as well.

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.

Do not feel sad for your tears as rocks never regret the waterfalls.

Life is full of regrets, but it doesn’t pay to look back.

I avoid looking back. I prefer good memories to regrets.

A safe life includes following your dreams with the full knowledge that doing so is not, in any way, shape or form, safe in the traditional meaning of the word. Because living safely means dying without too many regrets. That is safe.

I never regret my past. Only time I wasted was on the wrong people.

If you are afraid to take a chance, take one anyway. What you don’t do can create the same regrets as the mistakes you make.

I would rather regret the things that I have done than the things that I have not.

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.