Precepts are the rules by which we ought to square our lives. When they are contracted into sentences, they strike the affections; whereas admonition is only blowing of the coal.

The wise man lives as long as he should, not just as long as he likes.

He who receives a benefit with gratitude, repays the first installment of it.

If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favorable to him. Ignoranti quem portum petat, nullus suus ventus est.

Lay hold of today's task, and you will not depend so much upon tomorrow's.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

To be always fortunate, and to pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be ignorant of one half of nature.