All men who would surpass the other animals should do their best not to pass through life silently like the beasts whom nature made prone, obedient to their bellies.

Fame is the shadow of passion standing in the light

The glory of wealth and of beauty is fleeting and frail; virtue is illustrious and everlasting.

But at power or wealth, for the sake of which wars, and all kinds of strife, arise among mankind, we do not aim; we desire only our liberty, which no honorable man relinquishes but with his life.

It is always easy enough to take up arms, but very difficult to lay them down; the commencement and the termination of war are notnecessarily in the same hands; even a coward may begin, but the end comes only when the victors are willing.

To have the same likes and dislikes, therein consists the firmest bond of friendship.

One can ever assume to be what he is not, and to conceal what he is.