No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely; the fragile trees are those that have grown in a sunny valley.

There is the need for someone against which our characters can measure themselves. Without a ruler, you won't make the crooked straight.

Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardship of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die.

Crime when it succeeds is called virtue.

We are sure to get the better of fortune if we do but grapple with her.

Life's like a play; it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.

We live not according to reason, but according to fashion.