The body too has its rights; and it will have them: they cannot be trampled on without peril. The body ought to be the soul's best friend. Many good men however have neglected to make it such: so it has become a fiend and has plagued them.

There is as much difference between good poetry and fine verses, as between the smell of a flower-garden and of a perfumer's shop.

It is natural that affluence should be followed by influence.

Some men so dislike the dust kicked up by the generation they belong to, that, being unable to pass, they lag behind it.

Is bread the better for kneading? so is the heart. Knead it then by spiritual exercises; or God must knead it by afflictions.

When we skim along the surface of history we see little but the rough barren rocks that rise out of it.

When will talkers refrain from evil speaking: when listeners refrain from evil-hearing.