One must live as if it would be forever, and as if one might die each moment. Always both at once.
Power is the test. Some, once they have it, are content to buy the show of liking, and punish those who withhold it; then you have a despot. But some keep a true eye for how they seem to others, and care about it, which holds them back from much mischief.
It is something, I thought, when a king can put a courtesan to the blush.
It is better to learn war early from friends, than late from enemies.
death was the price of life.
Half the world's troubles come from men not being trained to resent a fallacy as much as an insult.