It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, - superfluous things that wear our togas theadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores.
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.
The way is long if one follows precepts, but short... if one follows patterns.
You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.
See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.
The heart is great which shows moderation in the midst of prosperity.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.
For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.
If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.
When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.
Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.
Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.
There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.
Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones on hand do more to produce a happy life than the volumes we can't find.
That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.
He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich.
You learn to know a pilot in a storm.
Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.
What is true belongs to me!
If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.
The wish for healing has always been half of health.
Time discovers truth.
Poverty wants some, luxury many, and avarice all things.
There is none made so great, but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness, even of the meanest of mortals.
Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.
A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.
When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.
It makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin.
I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
The first and greatest punishment of the sinner is the conscience of sin.
Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.
The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.
Whatever is well said by another, is mine.
One must steer, not talk.
Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life - in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.
No one is laughable who laughs at himself.
Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.
It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.
Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.
Life, if well lived, is long enough.
What nature requires is obtainable, and within easy reach. It is for the superfluous we sweat.
One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.
Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody.
Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.
A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.
Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?
Every guilty person is his own hangman.
Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
