I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised.

A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedaemonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True," said he, "but every goose can."

Reason speaks and feeling bites

Philosophy finds talkativeness a disease very difficult and hard to cure. For its remedy, conversation, requires hearers: but talkative people hear nobody, for they are ever prating. And the first evil this inability to keep silence produces is an inability to listen.

Apothegms are the most infallible mirror to represent a man truly what he is.

Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity.

As bees extract honey from thyme, the strongest and driest of herbs, so sensible men often get advantage and profit from the most awkward circumstances.