I forget who it was that recommended men for their soul's good to do each day two things they disliked: it was a wise man, and it is a precept that I have followed scrupulously; for every day I have got up and I have gone to bed.

It must be that to govern a nation you need a specific talent and that this may very well exist without general ability.

Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.

He knew that all things human are transitory and therefore that it must cease one day or another. He looked forward to that day with eager longing. Love was like a parasite in his heart, nourishing a hateful existence on his life's blood; it absorbed his existence so intensely that he could take pleasure in nothing else.

So long as some are strong and some are weak, the weak will be driven to the wall.

It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. It does not improve the temper.

The future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now.