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

The wise have a solid sense of silence and the ability to keep a storehouse of secrets. Their capacity and character are respected.

Be first the master of yourself

Sometimes it proves the highest understanding not to understand.

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.

Even monarchs have need of authors, and fear their pens more than ugly women the painter's pencil.

We have more days to live through than pleasures. Be slow in enjoyment, quick at work, for men see work ended with pleasure, pleasure ended with regret.