Their pupils and their little charges are not nourished and fed by what they learn: the learning is passed from hand to hand with only one end in view: to show it off, to put into our accounts to entertain others with it, as though it were merely counters, useful for totting up and producing statements, but having no other use or currency. 'Apud alios loqui didicerunt, non ipsi secum' [They have learned how to talk with others, not with themselves]

There are as many and innumerable degrees of wit, as there are cubits between this and heaven.

The births of all things are weak and tender and therefore we should have our eyes intent on beginnings.

I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently change, not only by fortune, but also by intention.

Children's games are hardly games. Children are never more serious than when they play.

Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.

The pleasure we hold in esteem for the course of our lives ought to have a greater share of our time dedicated to it; we should refuse no occasion nor omit any opportunity of drinking, and always have it in our minds.