“It is not difficult to avoid death, gentlemen of the jury; it is much more difficult to avoid wickedness, for it runs faster than death.”

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Every action has its pleasures and its price.

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.

When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.

Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity.

There is no solution; seek it lovingly.

The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion.

A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.

Wisdom begins in wonder.

Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.

There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.

Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.

To express oneself badly is not only faulty as far as the language goes, but does some harm to the soul.

Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.

The misuse of language induces evil in the soul.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.

The art of crisis management is to raise the stakes to where the adversary will not follow, but in a manner that avoids a tit for tat.

If changes are unavoidable, nothing is permanent. If nothing is permanent, everything is temporary.

If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.

We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.

If the art of war were nothing but the art of avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds, I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest.

We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.

The very first law in advertising is to avoid the concrete promise and cultivate the delightfully vague.

The greater number of people take their opinions on trust, to avoid the trouble of exercising their own minds, and these indolent beings naturally adhere to the letter, rather than the spirit of a law, divine or human.