From a little spark may burst a flame.

Be as a tower firmly set; Shakes not its top for any blast that blows.

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. [Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes]

Here pity only lives when it is dead - Virgil

Pride, envy, avarice - these are the sparks have set on fire the hearts of all men.

In that part of the book of my memory before the which is little that can be read, there is a rubric, saying, Incipit Vita Nova. Under such rubric I find written many things; and among them the words which I purpose to copy into this little book; if not all of them, at the least their substance.

You shall find out how salt is the taste of another man's bread, and how hard is the way up and down another man's stairs.