The least strained and most natural ways of the soul are the most beautiful; the best occupations are the least forced.

A man must learn to endure patiently what he cannot avoid conveniently.

Who feareth to suffer suffereth already, because he feareth.

In order always to learn something from others (which is the finest school there can be), I observe in my travels this practice: I always steer those with whom I talk back to the things they know best.

This idea is more surely understood by interrogation; WHAT DO I KNOW? which I bear as my motto with the emblem of a pair of scales.

The way of the world is to make laws, but follow custom.

We must learn to endure what we cannot avoid. Our life is composed, like the harmony of the world, of contrary things, also of different tones, sweet and harsh, sharp and flat, soft and loud. If a musician liked only one kind, what would he have to say?