If thou art wise, incline to truth; for truth, not the semblance, remains in its place.

To use the hands in making quicklime into mortar is better than to cross them on the breast in attendance on a prince.

Whenever thy hand can reach it, tear out the foe's brain, for such an opportunity washes anger from the mind.

Joy and sorrow, beauty and deformity, equally pass away.

To tell a falsehood is like the cut of a saber: for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will remain.

However much you study, you cannot know without action. A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man. Empty of essence, what learning has he whether upon him is firewood or book?

Liberty is of more value than any gifts; and to receive gifts is to lose it. Be assured that men most commonly seek to oblige thee only that they may engage thee to serve them.