It is a small soul, buried beneath the weight of affairs, that does not know how to get clean away from them, that cannot put them aside and pick them up again.

I do not teach. I relate.

Our wisdom and deliberation for the most part follow the lead of chance.

There is nothing which so poisons princes as flattery, nor anything whereby wicked men more easily obtain credit and favor with them.

Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do.

Our religion is made to eradicate vices, instead it encourages them, covers them, and nurtures them.

Virtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.