When a government becomes powerful it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurer which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance, for votes with which to perpetuate itself.
Would that I could discover truth as easily as I can uncover falsehood.
Many wish not so much to be virtuous, as to seem to be.
The existence of virtue depends entirely upon its use.
War should be undertaken in such a way as to show that its only object is peace.
Work makes a callus against grief.
In the very books in which philosophers bid us scorn fame, they inscribe their names.
If wisdom be attainable, let us not only win but enjoy it.
I am a Roman citizen.
There is no more sure tie between friends than when they are united in their objects and wishes.
I have never yet known a poet who did not think himself super-excellent.
There are no true friends in politics.
I shall always consider the best guesser the best prophet.
In prosperity let us most carefully avoid pride, disdain, and arrogance.
Nothing is so secure as that money will not defeat it.
A bachelor’s bed is the most pleasant.
Never can custom conquer nature, for she is ever unconquered.
Should this my firm persuasion of the soul’s immortality prove to be a mere delusion, it is at least a pleasing delusion, and I will cherish it to my last breath.
The greatest incitement to guilt is the hope of sinning with impunity.
History is the witness of the times, the light of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity.
There is a difference between justice and consideration in one’s relations to one’s fellow men. It is the function of justice not to do wrong to one’s fellow men of considerateness, not to wound their feelings.