A wise man never loses anything, if he has himself.

Learned we may be with another man's learning: we can only be wise with wisdom of our own.

An honest man is not accountable for the vice and folly of his trade, and therefore ought not to refuse the exercise of it. It is the custom of his country, and there is profit in it. We must live by the world, and such as we find it, so make use of it.

Writing does not cause misery. It is born of misery.

I would like to suggest that our minds are swamped by too much study and by too much matter just as plants are swamped by too much water or lamps by too much oil; that our minds, held fast and encumbered by so many diverse preoccupations, may well lose the means of struggling free, remaining bowed and bent under the load; except that it is quite otherwise: the more our souls are filled, the more they expand; examples drawn from far-off times show, on the contrary, that great soldiers ad statesmen were also great scholars.

The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.

Anyone who does not feel sufficiently strong in memory should not meddle with lying.