If our inward griefs were written on our brows, how many who are envied now would be pitied. It would seem that they had their deadliest foe in their own breast, and their whole happiness would be reduced to mere seeming.

Cowards' weapons neither cut nor pierce.

We are like vessels tossed on the bosom of the deep; our passions are the winds that sweep us impetuously forward; each pleasure is a rock; the whole life is a wide ocean. Reason is the pilot to guide us, but often allows itself to be led astray by the storms of pride.

Fortune is the best school of courage when she is fraught with anger, in the same way as winds and tempests are the school of the sailorboy.

High birth is an accident, not a virtue.

It is the just decree of Heaven that a traitor never sees his danger till his ruin is at hand.

Prepare thy soul calmly to obey; such offering will be more acceptable to God than every other sacrifice.