Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.

The man who does something under orders is not unhappy; he is unhappy who does something against his will.

Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.

To see a man fearless in dangers, untainted with lusts, happy in adversity, composed in a tumult, and laughing at all those things which are generally either coveted or feared, all men must acknowledge that this can be from nothing else but a beam of divinity that influences a mortal body.

It's a vice to trust all, and equally a vice to trust none.

I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open?

Many men provoke others to overreach them by excessive suspicion; their extraordinary distrust in some sort justifies the deceit.