Self knowledge is the beginning of self improvement.

One should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno.

Know how to use evasion. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.

It is therefore an excellent device to acquire knowledge from everybody.

When you counsel someone, you should appear to be reminding him of something he had forgotten, not of the light he was unable to see.

Excellence resides in quality, not in quantity. The best is always few and rare; much lowers value.

Do not be inaccessible. None is so perfect that he does not need at times the advice of others. He is an incorrigible ass who will never listen to any one. Even the most surpassing intellect should find a place for friendly counsel. Sovereignty itself must learn to lean. There are some that are incorrigible simply because they are inaccessible: They fall to ruin because none dares to extricate them. The highest should have the door open for friendship; it may prove the gate of help. A friend must be free to advise, and even to upbraid, without feeling embarrassed.