Limitation of aims is the mother of wisdom and the secret of achievement.

One must not criticize that which is common since it remains always the same.

It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.

If one mistreats citizens of foreign countries, one infringes upon one's duty toward one's own subjects; for thus one exposes themto the law of retribution.

There is a great difference, whether the poet seeks the particular for the sake of the general or sees the general in the particular. From the former procedure there ensues allegory, in which the particular serves only as illustration, as example of the general. The latter procedure, however, is genuinely the nature of poetry; it expresses something particular, without thinking of the general or pointing to it.

Oral delivery aims at persuasion and making the listener believe they are converted. Few persons are capable of being convinced the majority allow themselves to be persuaded.

The one who acts is always without conscience; nobody has a conscience but the contemplative person.