Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.

The period of a [Persian] boy's education is between the ages of five and twenty, and he is taught three things only: to ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth.

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

If one is sufficiently lavish with time, everything possible happens.

My men have become women, but the women men.

Calumny is a monstrous vice: for, where parties indulge in it, there are always two that are actively engaged in doing wrong, and one who is subject to injury. The calumniator inflicts wrong by slandering the absent; he who gives credit to the calumny before he has investigated the truth is equally implicated. The person traduced is doubly injured--first by him who propagates, and secondly by him who credits the calumny.

The worst part a man can suffer is to have insight into much and power over nothing.