So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.

Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practice.

For man is a plant, not fixed in the earth, nor immovable, but heavenly, whose head, rising as it were from a root upwards, is turned towards heaven.

It is no flattery to give a friend a due character; for commendation is as much the duty of a friend as reprehension.

Books delight to the very marrow of one's bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.

Learn to be pleased with everything, with wealth so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied.

Water and our necessary food are the only things that wise men must fight for.