I have always had a horror and detestation of poverty.

Animals do not betray; they do not exploit; they do not oppress; they do not enslave; they do not sin. They have their being, and their being is honest, and who can say this of man?

The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Corrupt citizens breed corrupt rulers, and it is the mob who finally decides when virtue shall die.

Those who claim to have had happy lives seem to be silly fools.

But what was a body? Dust, dung, urine, itches. It was the light within which was important, and it was not significant if that light endured after death, or if the soul was blinded eternally in the endless night of the suspired flesh.

In sleep, you are safe from the revolting mechanics of living and being a prey to outrageous fortune.