Pythagoras, when he was asked what time was, answered that it was the soul of this world.

Good birth is a fine thing, but the merit is our ancestors.

Those are greedy of praise prove that they are poor in merit.

We ought to regard books as we do sweetmeats, not wholly to aim at the pleasantest, but chiefly to respect the wholesomest; not forbidding either, but approving the latter most.

The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.

When one is transported by rage, it is best to observe attentively the effects on those who deliver themselves over to the same passion.

Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.