Men are not worried by things, but by their ideas about things. When we meet with difficulties, become anxious or troubled, let us not blame others, but rather ourselves. That is: our ideas about things.

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

The cause of all human evils is the not being able to apply general principles to special cases.

Be not diverted from your duty by any idle reflections the silly world may make upon you, for their censures are not in your power and should not be at all your concerns.

Embrace reality. Think about what delights you - the small luxuries on which you depend, the people whom you cherish most. But remember that they have their own distinct character, which is quite a separate matter from how we happen to regard them.

No living being is held by anything so strongly as its own needs.

What is a child? Ignorance. What is a child? Want of instruction.