Who does not know that the first law of historical writing is the truth.

So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge.

It is certain that memory contains not only philosophy, but all the arts and all that appertain to the use of life.

The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret -- that man is black at heart: mark and avoid him.

Law is the highest reason implanted in Nature, which commands what ought to be done and forbids the opposite.

I speak of that learning which wakes us acquainted with the boundless extent of nature, and the universe, and which even while we remain in this world, discovers to us both heaven, earth, and sea.

What is impossible by the nature of things is not confirmed by any law.