After they had accustomed themselves at Rome to the spectacles of the slaughter of animals, they proceeded to those of the slaughter of men, to the gladiators.

The recognition of virtue is not less valuable from the lips of the man who hates it, since truth forces him to acknowledge it; and though he may be unwilling to take it into his inmost soul, he at least decks himself out in its trappings.

I am one of those who hold that poetry is never so blithe as in a wanton and irregular subject.

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.

I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics.

In general I ask for books that make use of learning, not those that build it up.

It needs courage to be afraid.