The secret of success is that it is not the absence of failure, but the absence of envy.

Where even a falsehood must be told, let it be told.

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

God does not suffer presumption in anyone but himself.

For of those [cities] that were great in earlier times, most of them have now become small, while those which were great in my time were small formerly.

One should always look to the end of everything, how it will finally come out. For the god has shown blessedness to many only to overturn them utterly in the end.

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.