“Have patience. Everything is difficult before it is easy.”

It’s no virtue to gain the whole world. Just gain the heart of one person.

Whoever gives advice to a heedless man is himself in need of advice.

If a piece of worthless stone can bruise a cup of gold, its worth is not increased, nor that of the gold diminished.

Whoever interrupts the conversation of others to make a display of his fund of knowledge, makes notorious his own stock of ignorance.

Kings stand more in need of the company of the intelligent than the intelligent do of the society of kings.

When a man appreciates only eating and sleeping, what excellence has he over the reptiles?

When the belly is empty, the body becomes spirit; and when it is full, the spirit becomes body.

A wise man among the ignorant is as a beautiful girl in the company of blind men.

Were the diver to think on the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl.

Take care what you say before a wall, as you cannot tell who may be behind it.

None can be so true to your secret as yourself.

A grateful dog is better than an ungrateful man.

The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.

The best loved by God are those that are rich, yet have the humility of the poor, and those that are poor and have the magnanimity of the rich.

Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.

Whoever has his foe at his mercy, and does not kill him, is his own enemy