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

Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.

Evidence of trust begets trust, and love is reciprocated by love.

Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yielding themselves up when taken little by little.

May I never sit where it is impossible for me to get up and offer my seat to an older man?

To the Dolphin alone, beyond all other, nature has granted what the best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage.

The whole of life is but a moment of time. It is our duty, therefore to use it, not to misuse it.

In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.

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

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.

Every day in the mirror I watch death at work.

Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.

I agree that faith is essential to success in life, but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e. belief in life after death.

A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

The eyes of the dead are closed gently; we also have to open gently the eyes of the living.

Even when I’m being funny, I’m deadly serious.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Some kinds of nails, such as those used for defending the soles of coarse shoes, called hobnails, require a particular form of the head, which is made by the stroke of a die.