Death is a punishment to some, to others a gift and to many a favour.

Behold a contest worthy of a god, a brave man matched in conflict with adversity.

Friendship always benefits; love sometimes injures.

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.

It goes far toward making a man faithful to let him understand that you think him so; and he that does but suspect I will deceive him, gives me a sort of right to do so.

It is the mind that makes us rich and happy, in what condition soever we are, and money signifies no more to it than it does to the gods.

No one can lead a happy life, or even one that is bearable, without the pursuit of wisdom, and that the perfection of wisdom is what makes the happy life, although even the beginnings of wisdom make life bearable. Yet this conviction, clear as it is, needs to be strengthened and given deeper roots through daily reflection; making noble resolutions is not a important as keeping the resolutions you have made already.