I want to be seen here in my simple, natural, ordinary fashion, without straining or artifice; for it is myself that I portray... I am myself the matter of my book.

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.

The relish of good and evil depends in a great measure upon the opinion we have of them.

Friendship is the highest degree of perfection in society.

How often, being moved under a false cause, if the person offending makes a good defense and presents us with a just excuse, are we angry against truth and innocence itself?

The wise man should withdraw his soul within, out of the crowd, and keep it in freedom and power to judge things freely; but as for externals, he should wholly follow the accepted fashions and forms.

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