Why did I love her? Because it was her; because it was me.

Those things that are dearest to us have cost us the most.

Man will rise, if God by exception lends him a hand; he will rise by abandoning and renouncing his own means, and letting himselfbe raised and uplifted by purely celestial means.

My reason is not framed to bend or stoop: my knees are.

Sometimes it is a good choice not to choose at all.

The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived long, and yet lived but a little.

As for our pupils talk, let his virtue and his sense of right and wrong shine through it and have no guide but reason. Make him understand that confessing an error which he discovers in his own argument even when he alone has noticed it is an act of justice and integrity, which are the main qualities he pursues; stubbornness and rancour are vulgar qualities, visible in common souls whereas to think again, to change one's mind and to give up a bad case on the heat of the argument are rare qualities showing strength and wisdom.