Never sell the bear's skin before one has killed the beast.
No path of flowers leads to glory.
A mountain in labour shouted so loud that everyone, summoned by the noise, ran up expecting that she would be delivered of a city bigger than Paris; she brought forth a mouse.
Our destiny is frequently met in the very paths we take to avoid it.
From a distance it is something; and nearby it is nothing.
To live lightheartedly but not recklessly; to be gay without being boisterous; to be courageous without being bold; to show trust and cheerful resignation without fatalism - this is the art of living.