Death is not an evil, because it frees us from all evils, and while it takes away good things, it takes away also the desire for them. Old age is the supreme evil, because it deprives us of all pleasures, leaving us only the appetite for them, and it brings with it all sufferings. Nevertheless, we fear death, and we desire old age.

There's no greater sign of being a poor philosopher and wise man than wanting all of life to be wise and philosophical.

The old man, especially if he is in society in the privacy of his thoughts, though he may protest the opposite, never stops believing that, through some singular exception of the universal rule, he can in some unknown and inexplicable way still make an impression on women.

The artisan or scientist or the follower of whatever discipline who has the habit of comparing himself not with other followers but with the discipline itself will have a lower opinion of himself, the more excellent he is.

The artist's conception of his art or the scientist's of his science is usually as great as his conception of his own worth is small.

The end of pain we take as happiness.

The world laughs at things it would really prefer to admire, and like Aesop's fox it criticizes things it covets.