Let a prince be guarded with soldiers, attended by councillors, and shut up in forts; yet if his thoughts disturb him, he is miserable.

...To the Dolphin alone, beyond all other, nature has granted what the best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage

But the Lacedaemonians, who make it their first principle of action to serve their country's interest, know not any thing to be just or unjust by any measure but that.

Alexander esteemed it more kingly to govern himself than to conquer his enemies.

What most of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and independence; which, requiring no superfluity at home, distracts not the mind from the common good.

A friend should be like money, tried before being required, not found faulty in our need.

Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.