In the blessings as well as in the ills of life, less depends upon what befalls us than upon the way in which it is met.

To buy books would be a good thing if we could also buy the time to read them; but the purchase of books is often mistaken for the assimilation and mastering of their contents.

To become reconciled to a friend with whom you have broken, is a form of weakness; and you pay the penalty of it when he takes the first opportunity of doing precisely the very thing which brought about the breach.

The alchemists in their search for gold discovered many other things of greater value.

A man can surely do what he wills to do, but cannot determine what he wills.

Happiness consists in frequent repetition of pleasure

Life to the great majority is only a constant struggle for mere existence, with the certainty of losing it at last.