The thing that matters is not what you bear, but how you bear it

No man esteems anything that comes to him by chance; but when it is governed by reason, it brings credit both to the giver and receiver; whereas those favors are in some sort scandalous that make a man ashamed of his patron.

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

The mind is never right but when it is at peace within itself; the soul is in heaven even while it is in the flesh, if it be purged of its natural corruptions, and taken up with divine thoughts, and contemplations.

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace; some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.

No wind blows in favor of a ship without direction.

No one can keep a mask on long.