The raging fire which urged us on was scorching us; it would have burned us had we failed to restrain it.

The man who has sufficient power over himself to wait until his nature has recovered its even balance is the truly wise man, but such beings are seldom met with.

Praise the beautiful for their intelligence and the intelligent for their beauty.

As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every evil which may befall me; therefore, I have always found myself capable of being my own pupil, and ready to love my teacher.

The philosopher is a person who refuses no pleasures which do not produce greater sorrows, and who knows how to create new ones.

We ourselve are the authors of almost all our woes and griefs, of which we so unreasonably complain.

Worthy or not, my life is my subject, and my subject is my life.