He who bestows something great receives no gratitude; for in accepting it the recipient has already been weighed down too much.

One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.

Posthumous men-myself, for example-are not as well understood as timely ones, but we are listened to better. More precisely: we are never understood-hence our authority.

Annoyance is a physical malady that is in no way cured just because the annoying situation that causes it is eliminated.

Not to him who is offensive to us are we most unfair, but to him who doth not concern us at all.

Extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones but by extreme positions of the opposite kind.

This mother needs happy, reputable children, and that one needs unhappy ones: otherwise she cannot show her kindness as a mother.