It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other.

It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other.

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

Where you are is of no moment, but only what you are doing there. It is not the place that ennobles you, but you the place, and this only by doing that which is great and noble.

Sameness is the mother of disgust, variety the cure.

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.

Often have I wondered with much curiosity as to our coming into this world and what will follow our departure.