What often prevents our abandoning ourselves to a single vice is, our having more than one.

Our wisdom is no less at fortune's mercy than our wealth.

As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing.

He who refuses praise the first time that it is offered does so because he would hear it a second time.

A man convinced of his own merit will accept misfortune as an honor, for thus can he persuade others, as well as himself, that he is a worthy target for the arrows of fate.

As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.

The intention of cheating no one lays us open to being cheated ourselves.