We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.

Yield, ye arms, to the toga; to civic praise, ye laurels.

For one day spent well, and agreeably to your precepts, is preferable to an eternity of error.

The strictest law often causes the most serious wrong

The office of liberality consisteth in giving with judgment.

If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.

Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum. (Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.)