"One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity."

"Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone."

"To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth."

"A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends."

"A beautiful woman should break her mirror early."

"Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil."

"Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment."

"It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice."

"A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are."

"He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything."

"Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art."

"True knowledge lies in knowing how to live."

"Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise."

"A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity."

"At twenty a man is a peacock, at thirty a lion, at forty a camel, at fifty a serpent, at sixty a dog, at seventy an ape, at eighty a nothing at all."

"When desire dies, fear is born."

"Have friends. 'Tis a second existence."

"It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you."

"It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it."

"Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose."

"True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing."

"Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent."

"Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit."

"Be content to act, and leave the talking to others."

"Work is the price which is paid for reputation."

"Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side."

"Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness."

"Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it."

"Evil report carries further than any applause."

"Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check."

"Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second."

"Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong."

"Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders."

"Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one."

"To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else."

"Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave."

"It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards."

"Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one."

"Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance."

"Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching."

"There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one."

"Begin with another's to end with your own."

"Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way."

"Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies."

"A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens a truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself."

"Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself."

"The wise does at once what the fool does at last."

"Respect yourself if you would have others respect you."

"Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed."

"The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause."