When everyone is moving towards depravity, no one seems to be moving, but if someone stops he shows up the others who are rushing on, by acting as a fixed point.

The world is satisfied with words, few care to dive beneath the surface.

It is not shameful for a man to succumb to pain and it is shameful to succumb to pleasure.

Nature has some perfections to show that she is the image of God, and some defects to show that she is only His image.

I do not admire a virtue like valour when it is pushed to excess, if I do not see at the same time the excess of the opposite virtue, as one does in Epaminondas, who displayed extreme valour and extreme benevolence. For otherwise it is not an ascent, but a fall. We do not display our greatness by placing ourselves at one extremity, but rather by being at both at the same time, and filling up the whole of the space between them.

If we regulate our conduct according to our own convictions, we may safely disregard the praise or censure of others.

Put the world's greatest philosopher on a plank that is wider than need be; if there is a precipe below, although his reason may convince him that he is safe, his imagination will prevail.