Desire is poison at lunch and wormwood at dinner; your bed is a stone, friendship is hateful and your fancy is always fixed on one thing.

We are the buffoons of our children.

Life is a toy made of glass; it appears to be of inestimable price, but in reality it is very cheap.

I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship.

I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.

I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself.

A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart.