Reading about ethics is about as likely to improve one's behavior as reading about sports is to make one into an athlete.
Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.
Life just keeps unfolding, ignoring our praise or blame.
Your flattery is as full of contempt as your insults were.
The theme of my autobiography could only be repetition.
Without asceticism, self-indulgence would be insignificant.