There is more evidence to prove that saltness [of the sea] is due to the admixture of some substance, besides that which we have adduced. Make a vessel of wax and put it in the sea, fastening its mouth in such a way as to prevent any water getting in. Then the water that percolates through the wax sides of the vessel is sweet, the earthy stuff, the admixture of which makes the water salt, being separated off as it were by a filter.

You should never think without an image.

Well begun is half done.

Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in.

Why is it that all men who are outstanding in philosophy, poetry or the arts are melancholic?

To know what virtue is is not enough; we must endeavor to possess and to practice it, or in some other manner actually ourselves to become good.

No one will dare maintain that it is better to do injustice than to bear it.