The beginning is the chiefest part of any work.

To honor with hymns and panegyrics those who are still alive is not safe; a man should run his course and make a fair ending, and then we will praise him; and let praise be given equally to women as well as men who have been distinguished in virtue.

The Earth is like one of those balls made of twelve pieces of skin.

Those wretches who never have experienced the sweets of wisdom and virtue, but spend all their time in revels and debauches, sink downward day after day, and make their whole life one continued series of errors.

Complacent ignorance is the most lethal sickness of the soul

The beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression is more readily taken.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.