He grieves more than is necessary who grieves before any cause for sorrow has arisen.

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult

The greater part of progress is the desire to progress.

This is the difference between us Romans and the Etruscans: We believe that lightning is caused by clouds colliding, whereas they believe that clouds collide in order to create lightning. Since they attribute everything to gods, they are led to believe not that events have a meaning because they have happened, but that they happen in order to express a meaning.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

That loss is most discreditable which is caused by negligence.