The science of numbers ought to be preferred as an acquisition before all others, because of its necessity and because of the great secrets and other mysteries which there are in the properties of numbers. All sciences partake of it, and it has need of none.

In omni adversitate fortunæ, infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem In every adversity of fortune, to have been happy is the most unhappy kind of misfortune.

For in all adversity of fortune the worst sort of misery is to have been happy.

Whose happiness is so firmly established that he has no quarrel from any side with his estate of life?

He who has calmly reconciled his life to fate ... can look fortune in the face.

...Whose souls, albeit in a cloudy memory, yet seek back their good, but, like drunk men, know not the road home.

Contemplate the extent and stability of the heavens, and then at last cease to admire worthless things.