To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves; let us be above such transparent egotism. If you can't say good and encouraging things, say nothing. Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say.

A cat has a reputation to protect. If it had a halo, it would be worn cocked to one side.

Those who have suffered much become very bitter or very gentle.

In Constantinople, more Christians were slaughtered by Christians in the years 342-343 than by all the persecutions by pagans in the history of Rome.

The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.

To rulers religion, like almost everything else, is a tool of power.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.