The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.
True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
One must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the center of opportunity.
Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.
Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.
Put yourself on view. This brings your talents to light.
It is impossible to live without brains either ones own or borrowed.
Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.
A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.
It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.
Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
At a man is a peacock at a lion at a camel at a serpent at a dog at an ape and at nothing.
There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.
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.
He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.
Beauty and folly are generally companions.
All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.
The wise does at once what the fool does at last.
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.
Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.
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.
Do pleasant things yourself but unpleasant things through others.
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.
A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
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.
To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.
Without courage wisdom bears no fruit.
Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.
Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.
It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.
He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.
Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.
Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.
Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another's fame.
He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.
Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers.
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.
It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.
Evil report carries further than any applause.
We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend.
Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.
Work is the price which is paid for reputation.
Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.
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.
To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.
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.
