There is simply no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not. It is simply unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain safe and secure when his servants are armed.

Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared.

Men are able to assist fortune but not to thwart her. They can weave her designs, but they cannot destroy them.

God is not willing to do everything, and thus take away our free will and that share of glory which belongs to us.

Minds are of three kinds: one is capable of thinking for itself; another is able to understand the thinking of others; and a third can neither think for itself nor understand the thinking of others. The first is of the highest excellence, the second is excellent, and the third is worthless.

If the course of human affairs be considered, it will be seen that many things arise against which heaven does not allow us to guard.

A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.