When one is transported by rage, it is best to observe attentively the effects on those who deliver themselves over to the same passion.
It is no disgrace not to be able to do everything; but to undertake, or pretend to do, what you are not made for, is not only shameful, but extremely troublesome and vexatious.
A friend should be like money, tried before being required, not found faulty in our need.
Among real friends there is no rivalry or jealousy of one another, but they are satisfied and contented alike whether they are equal or one of them is superior.
So also it is good not always to make a friend of the person who is expert in twining himself around us; but, after testing them, to attach ourselves to those who are worthy of our affection and likely to be serviceable to us.
Man is neither by birth nor disposition a savage, nor of unsocial habits, but only becomes so by indulging in vices contrary to his nature.
A healer of others, himself diseased.
There is no perfecter endowment in man than political virtue.
The conduct of a wise politician is ever suited to the present posture of affairs. Often by foregoing a part he saves the whole, and by yielding in a small matter secures a greater.
For man is a plant, not fixed in the earth, nor immovable, but heavenly, whose head, rising as it were from a root upwards, is turned towards heaven.
Real excellence, indeed, is most recognized when most openly looked into.
God alone is entirely exempt from all want of human virtues, that which needs least is the most absolute and divine.
Friendship requires a steady, constant, and unchangeable character, a person that is uniform in his intimacy.
Friendship is the most pleasant of all things, and nothing more glads the heart of man.
Those are greedy of praise prove that they are poor in merit.
Come back with your shield – or on it.
When another is asked a question, take special care not to interrupt to answer it yourself.
A warrior carries his shield for the sake of the entire line.
Lying is a most disgraceful vice; it first despises God, and then fears men.
Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.