In general, the men of lower intelligence won out. Afraid of their own shortcomings and of the intelligence of their opponents, so that they would not lose out in reasoned argument or be taken by surprise by their quick-witted opponents, they boldly moved into action. Their enemies,on the contrary, contemptuous and confident in their ability to anticipate, thought there was no need to take by action what they could win by their brains.

He who graduates the harshest school, succeeds.

You can now, if you choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already succeeded without expecting it.

For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.

The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.

Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils.

Hope is an expensive commodity. It makes better sense to be prepared.