For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.

Our nature holds so much envy and malice that our pleasure in our own advantages is not so great as our distress at others'.

If you light upon an impertinent talker, that sticks to you like a bur, to the disappointment of your important occasions, deal freely with him, break off the discourse, and pursue your business.

Neither blame or praise yourself.

For it was not so much that by means of words I came to a complete understanding of things, as that from things I somehow had an experience which enabled me to follow the meaning of words.

It is not histories I am writing, but lives; and in the most glorious deeds there is not always an indication of virtue or vice, indeed a small thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of a character than battles where thousands die.

Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.