Here and elsewhere we shall not obtain the best insight into things until we actually see them growing from the beginning.

If a man of good natural disposition acquires Intelligence [as a whole], then he excels in conduct, and the disposition which previously only resembled Virtue, will now be Virtue in the true sense. Hence just as with the faculty of forming opinions [the calculative faculty] there are two qualities, Cleverness and Prudence, so also in the moral part of the soul there are two qualities, natural virtue and true Virtue; and true Virtue cannot exist without Prudence.

The man who is truly good and wise will bear with dignity whatever fortune sends, and will always make the best of his circumstances.

Knowledge of the fact differs from knowledge of the reason for the fact.

And yet the true creator is necessity, which is the mother of invention.

The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people think.

Nature creates nothing without a purpose.