There is no beauty unaided, no excellence that does not sink to the barbarous, unless saved by art.
Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.
Friends provoked become the bitterest of enemies.
He who laughs at everything is as big a fool as he who weeps at everything.
Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.
Help others solve their problems; standing farther away, you can often see matters more clearly than they do. . . The greatest service you can render someone else is helping him or her help themselves.