If the crowns of all the kingdoms of the empire were laid down at my feet in exchange for my books and my love of reading I would spurn them all.

The best use one can make of his mind is to distrust it.

Let gratitude for the past inspire us with trust for the future.

The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become toward the defects of other people.

Mankind, by the perverse depravity of their nature, esteem that which they have most desired as of no value the moment it is possessed, and torment themselves with fruitless wishes for that which is beyond their reach.

Peace does not dwell in outward things but within the soul; we may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence to, not an exemption from, suffering.

There were some who said that a man at the point of death was more free than all others, because death breaks every bond, and over the dead the united world has no power.