The abundance of books is distraction

Only a great man, believe me, and one whose excellence rises far above human failings, will not allow anything to be stolen from his own span of time, and his life is very long precisely because he has devoted to himself entirely any time that became available. None of it lay uncultivated and idle, none was under another man's control, for guarding it most jealously, he found nothing worth exchanging for his own precious time.

There exists no more difficult art than living.

Death falls heavily on that man who, known too well to others, dies in ignorance of himself.

Associate with people who are likely to improve you.

The wise man will not pardon any crime that ought to be punished, but he will accomplish, in a nobler way, all that is sought in pardoning. He will spare some and watch over some, because of their youth, and others on account of their ignorance. His clemency will not fall short of justice, but will fulfill it perfectly.

We are more easily led part by part to an understanding of the whole. -Facilius per partes in cognitionem totius adducimur