Nature has given us the seeds of knowledge, not knowledge itself.

All cruelty springs from weakness.

Who-only let him be a man and intent upon honor-is not eager for the honorable ordeal and prompt to assume perilous duties? To what energetic man is not idleness a punishment?

The mind should be allowed some relaxation, that it may return to its work all the better for the rest.

We ought not to confine ourselves either to writing or to reading; the one, continuous writing, will cast a gloom over our strength, and exhaust it; the other will make our strength flabby and watery. It is better to have recourse to them alternately, and to blend one with the other, so that the fruits of one's reading may be reduced to concrete form by the pen.

Resistance to oppression is second nature.

Shall I tell you what philosophy holds out to humanity? Counsel...You are called in to help the unhappy.