“The soul languishing in obscurity contracts a kind of rust, or abandons itself to the chimera of presumption; for it is natural for it to acquire something, even when separated from any one.”

By writing quickly we are not brought to write well, but by writing well we are brought to write quickly.

Although virtue receives some of its excellencies from nature, yet it is perfected by education.

The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.

A liar ought to have a good memory.

Verse satire indeed is entirely our own.

It is easier to do many things than to do one thing continuously for a long time.

Nature herself has never attempted to effect great changes rapidly.

For the mind is all the easier to teach before it is set.

That which offends the ear will not easily gain admission to the mind.

In a crowd, on a journey, at a banquet even, a line of thought can itself provide its own seclusion.

It is the nurse that the child first hears, and her words that he will first attempt to imitate.

Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.

Study depends on the goodwill of the student, a quality that cannot be secured by compulsion.

Virtue, though she gets her beginning from nature, yet receives her finishing touches from learning.

Let us never adopt the maxim, Rather lose our friend than our jest.

Though ambition in itself is a vice, yet it is often the parent of virtues.

One may demand of me that I should seek truth, but not that I should find it.

Cracked things often hold out as long as whole things; one takes so much better care of them!

There is only one duty; that is to be happy.

Hurry is the mark of a weak mind, dispatch of a strong one.

By the work one knows the workman.

A lawful kiss is never worth as much as a stolen one.

Most wonderful of all are words, and how they make friends one with another.

Every time I fill a vacant office, I make ten malcontents and one ingrate.