If there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear, an unhappy state of happiness.

There is no desert like being friendless.

Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers.

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

Share weight and woe, for misfortune falls with double force on him that stands alone.

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.

Keep expectation alive. Keep stirring it up. Let much promise more, and great deeds herald greater.