-
The worst evil of all is to leave the ranks of the living before one dies.
-
A foolishness is inflicted with a hatred of itself.
-
He will live ill who does not know how to die well.
-
Small sorrows speak great ones are silent.
-
As long as you live, learn how to live.
-
When you see a man in distress, recognize him as a fellow man.
-
...the geometrician teaches me how to work out the size of my estates rather than how to work out how much a man needs in order to have enough....You geometers can calculate the area of circles, can reduce any given shape to a square, can state the distances separating starts. Nothing's outside your scope when it comes to measurement. Well, if you're such an expert, measure a man's soul; tell me how large or how small that is. You can define a straight line; what use is that to you if you've no idea what straightness means in life?
-
Of all the felicities, the most charming is that of a firm and gentle friendship. It sweetens all our cares, dispels our sorrows, and counsels us in all extremities. Nay, if there were no other comfort in it than the pare exercise of so generous a virtue, even for that single reason a man would not be without it; it is a sovereign antidote against all calamities - even against the fear of death itself.
-
Real improvement is of slow growth only.
-
Nothing costs so much as what is bought by prayers.
-
The wise man lives as long as he should, not just as long as he likes.
-
Golden roofs break men's rest.
-
He who is penitent is almost innocent.
-
Misfortune is the test of a person's merit.
-
Epileptics know by signs when attacks are imminent and take precautions accordingly; we must do the same in regard to anger
-
For what else is Nature but God and the Divine Reason that pervades the whole universe and all its parts.
-
Light is that grief which counsel can allay.
-
Whoever has nothing to hope, let him despair of nothing.
-
Desultory reading is delightful, but to be beneficial, our reading must be carefully directed.
-
If I only have the will to be grateful, I am so.
-
Don't stumble over something behind you.
-
While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step, and with winged days the wheel of the headlong year is turned.
-
Refrain from following the example of those whose craving is for attention, not their own improvement.
-
What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.