Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence.

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.

Before a man dies, hold back and call him not happy but lucky.

The wooden wall alone should remain unconquered.

Those who are guided by reason are generally successful in their plans; those who are rash and precipitate seldom enjoy the favour of the gods.

We have two useless gods who never leave our island, but like to dwell in it constantly, Poverty and Helplessness.

If anyone, no matter who, were given the opportunity of choosing from amongst all the nations in the world the set of beliefs which he thought best, he would inevitably—after careful considerations of their relative merits—choose that of his own country. Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best.