Every reign must submit to a greater reign.
— Lucius Annaeus Seneca
The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.
There is a noble manner of being poor, and who does not know it will never be rich.
A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.
He who has great power should use it lightly.
Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.
Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.
Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.
A great fortune is a great slavery.
True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.
He who is brave is free.
Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.
In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.
Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.
Love in its essence is spiritual fire.
To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.
There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.
It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess.
Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.
No one can be happy who has been thrust outside the pale of truth. And there are two ways that one can be removed from this realm: by lying, or by being lied to.
Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.
He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man... It is more powerful than external circumstances.
Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.
He that does good to another does good also to himself.
I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives.
In war there is no prize for runner-up.
Every sin is the result of a collaboration.
Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.
Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.
If you wished to be loved, love.
Even after a bad harvest there must be sowing.
There is no delight in owning anything unshared.
A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
The things hardest to bear are sweetest to remember.
There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.
Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart.
Where fear is, happiness is not.
We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered today? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
All cruelty springs from weakness.
Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.
God is the universal substance in existing things. He comprises all things. He is the fountain of all being. In Him exists everything that is.
Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
