There is a huge gulf between the man who follows the conventions and laws of his country and the man who sets out to regiment them and to change them.

Most men are rich in borrowed sufficiency: a man may very well say a good thing, give a good answer, cite a good sentence, without at all seeing the force of either the one or the other.

If by being overstudious, we impair our health and spoil our good humor, let us give it up.

To make a crooked stick straight, we bend it the contrary way.

That is why Bias jested with those who were going through the perils of a great storm with him and calling on the gods for help: "Shut up," he said, "so that they do not realize that you are here with me.

In true friendship, in which I am expert, I give myself to my friend more than I draw him to me. I not only like doing him good better than having him do me good, but also would rather have him do good to himself than to me; he does me most good when he does himself good.

In plain truth, lying is an accursed vice. We are not men, nor have any other tie upon another, but by our word.