I know and love the good, yet, ah! the worst pursue.

For though I am a body of this earth, my firm desire is born from the stars.

I would have preferred to have been born in any other time than our own.

Gold, silver, jewels, purple garments, houses built of marble, groomed estates, pious paintings, caparisoned steeds, and other things of this kind offer a mutable and superficial pleasure; books give delight to the very marrow of one's bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.

Continued work and application form my soul's nourishment. So soon as I commenced to rest and relax I should cease to live.

To begin with myself, then, the utterances of men concerning me will differ widely, since in passing judgment almost every one is influenced not so much by truth as by preference, and good and evil report alike know no bounds.

A good death does honour to a whole life.