It's my belief that history is a wheel. 'Inconstancy is my very essence,'? says the wheel. Rise up on my spokes if you like but don't complain when you're cast back down into the depths. Good times pass away, but then so do the bad. Mutability is our tragedy, but it's also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away.

Man is so constituted that he then only excels other things when he knows himself.

One's virtue is all that one truly has, because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.

Give me Thy light, and fix my eyes on Thee!

Every man must be content with that glory which he may have at home.

Music is part of us, and either ennobles or degrades our behavior.

In every kind of adversity, the bitterest part of a man's affliction is to remember that he once was happy.