In theory there is nothing to hinder our following what we are taught;but in life there are many things to draw us aside.

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.

If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible.

Know you not that a good man does nothing for appearance sake, but for the sake of having done right?

Does a man reproach thee for being proud or ill-natured, envious or conceited, ignorant or detracting? Consider with thyself whether his reproaches are true. If they are not, consider that thou art not the person whom he reproaches, but that he reviles an imaginary being, and perhaps loves what thou really art, though he hates what thou appearest to be.

Opportunity beckons more surely when misfortune comes upon a person than it ever does when that person is riding the crest of a wave of success. It sharpens a person's wits, if that person will let it, enabling him or her to see more clearly and evaluate situations with a more knowledgeable judgment.

The origin of sorrow is this: to wish for something that does not come to pass.