Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.

No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.

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.

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

Nothing can produce so great a serenity of life as a mind free from guilt and kept untainted, not only from actions, but purposes that are wicked. By this means the soul will be not only unpolluted but also undisturbed. The fountain will run clear and unsullied.

I had rather men should ask why my statue is not set up, than why it is.

Choose what is best, and habit will make it pleasant and easy.