Man is born a barbarian, and only raises himself above the beast by culture.
Hope is a great falsifier of truth.
Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.
Excellence resides in quality, not in quantity. The best is always few and rare; much lowers value.
It is a great misfortune to be of use to nobody; scarcely less to be of use to everybody.
There are certain inessential activities-moths of precious time-and it is worse to busy yourself with the trivial than to do nothing.