... deprived of pain, and also deprived of danger, able to do what it wants, [Nature] does not need us, nor understands our deserts, and it cannot be angry.

When the supreme violence of a furious wind upon the sea sweeps over the waters the chief admiral of a fleet along with his mighty legions, does he not crave the gods' peace with vows and in his panic seek with prayers the peace of the winds and favouring breezes. Nonetheless, he is caught up in the furious hurricane and driven upon the shoals of death.

In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.

It is pleasurable, when winds disturb the waves of a great sea, to gaze out from land upon the great trials of another.

Sweet it is, when on the high seas the winds are lashing the waters, to gaze from the land on another's struggles.

The highest summits and those elevated above the level of other things are mostly blasted by envy as by a thunderbolt.

Look at a man in the midst of doubt & danger and you will learn in his hour of adversity what he really is.