Quotes

I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.

It is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with.

Men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.

What great or glorious deed could we have performed if we had sat at ease in Macedonia?

From my father I received life, and from my teacher I learned how to live well.

To estimate how happy a man is, one should ask not what pleases him, but what troubles him.

Solitude is the lot of all outstanding minds.

What a man is in himself, what accompanies him when he is alone, what no one can give or take away, is more essential to him than everything he has or what he may be in the eyes of others.

What moves man is the striving to exist; but when his existence is assured, he knows not what to do with it.

The life of every individual, if we survey it as a whole and bring out only its most significant features, is really always a tragedy; but gone through in detail, it has the character of a comedy.

The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom.

Bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind.