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.

All pleasure in the world is a passing dream.

Nothing mortal is enduring, and there is nothing sweet which does not presently end in bitterness.

Virtue is health, vice is sickness.

Wanting is not enough, long and you attain it.

Life in itself is short enough, but the physicians with their art, know to their amusement, how to make it still shorter.

I looked back at the summit of the mountain, which seemed but a cubit high in comparison with the height of human contemplation, were in not too often merged in the corruptions of the earth.