A wise prince must never take things easy in times of peace.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

God Himself chasteneth not with a rod but with time.

It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.

Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders.

At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all.

The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them.