History is the lie commonly agreed upon.

I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.

The passions are the winds which fill the sails of the vessel; they sink it at times, but without them it would be impossible to make way.

It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.

Persistence with patience and prayer pays with profits, prosperity and peace of mind.

You have no control over the hand that life deals you, but how you play that hand is entirely up to you.