... the friendship of worthless people has a bad effect (because they take part, unstable as they are, in worthless pursuits, and actually become bad through each other's influence). But the friendship of the good is good, and increases in goodness because of their association. They seem even to become better men by exercising their friendship and improving each other; for the traits that they admire in each other get transferred to themselves.

Memory is the scribe of the soul.

If men think that a ruler is religious and has a reverence for the Gods, they are less afraid of suffering injustice at his hands.

If things do not turn out as we wish, we should wish for them as they turn out.

Wretched, ephemeral race, children of chance and tribulation, why do you force me to tell you the very thing which it would be most profitable for you not to hear? The very best thing is utterly beyond your reach: not to have been born, not to be, to be nothing. However, the second best thing for you is: to die soon.

There is no such thing as committing adultery with the right woman, at the right time, and in the right way, for it is simply WRONG.

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.