“They wonder much to hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed, that even men for whom it was made, and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less value than it is.”

Two evils, greed and faction are the destruction of all justice.

The things we pray for, good Lord, give us grace to labor for.

As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls, not only because my bees love it but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language.

The most part of all princes have more delight in warlike manners and feats of chivalry than in the good feats of peace.

Getting married is like putting one’s hand in a bag containing 99 serpents and one eel.

No living creature is naturally greedy, except from fear of want – or in the case of human beings, from vanity, the notion that you’re better than people if you can display more superfluous property than they can.

Instead of inflicting these horrible punishments, it would be far more to the point to provide everyone with some means of livelihood, so that nobody’s under the frightful necessity of becoming, first a thief, and then a corpse.

To gold and silver nature hath given no use that we may not well lack.

Take something from yourself, to give to another, that is humane and gentle and never takes away as much comfort as it brings again.

It is naturally given to all men to esteem their own inventions best.

It is possible to live for the next life and still be merry in this.

It is part of the business of life to be affable and pleasing to those whom either nature, chance or circumstance has made our companions.

A pretty face may be enough to catch a man, but it takes character and good nature to hold him.

They have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters.

No more like together than is chalke to coles.

An absolutely new idea is one of the rarest things known to man.