I never yet feared those men who set a place apart in the middle of their cities where they gather to cheat one another and swear oaths which they break.

It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any otherplace.

Far better it is to have a stout heart always and suffer one's share of evils, than to be ever fearing what may happen.

A general curiosity about the unknown sparked by the multicultural milieu in which I spent my formative years. There was a lot of unknown back then, too. I dare say it was easier to be an explorer then.

A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king.

How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.

The Colchians, Ethiopians and Egyptians have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are burnt of skin.