Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages of action and retirement; but the elevation of his birth and the accidents of his life never allowed him the freedom of choice. He might perhaps sincerely have preferred the groves of the Academy and the society of Athens; but he was constrained, at first by the will, and afterwards by the injustice of Constantius, to expose his person and fame to the dangers of Imperial greatness; and to make himself accountable to the world and to posterity for the happiness of millions.

[But] the man who dares not expose his life in the defence of his children and his property, has lost in society the first and most active energies of nature.

A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters, arts, or money, found some compensation for this savage state in the enjoyment of liberty. Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.

It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable.

Boethius might have been styled happy, if that precarious epithet could be safely applied before the last term of the life of man.

The Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects.

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.