A noble person attracts noble people, and knows how to hold on to them.

One alone does not help, but rather he who unites with many at the right moment.

Our virtues and view spring from one root.

And I like those authors best whose scenes describe my own situation in life-- and the friends who are about me whose stories touch me with interest, from resembling my own homely existence.

One never learns to understand truly anything but what one loves.

No matter what one says, you can recognize only those matters that are equal to you. Only rulers who possess extraordinary abilities will recognize and esteem properly extraordinary abilities in their subjects and servants.

Nothing tells more about the character of a man than the things he makes fun of.