If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.

Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.

Avoid banquets which are given by strangers an ignorant persons. But if there is ever occasion to join them, let your attention be carefully fixed, that you slip not into the manner of the vulgar (the uninstructed).

Fortune is an evil chain to the body, and vice to the soul.

When our friends are present we ought to treat them well; and when they are absent, to speak of them well.

If you would be a reader, read; if a writer, write.

Confidence in nonsense is a requirement for the creative process.