A good prince will tax as lightly as possible those commodities which are used by the poorest members of society: grain, bread, beer, wine, clothing, and all other staples without which human life could not exist.
The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth.
Ask a wise man to dinner and he’ll upset everyone by his gloomy silence or tiresome questions. Invite him to a dance and you’ll have a camel prancing about. Haul him off to a public entertainment and his face will be enough to spoil the people’s entertainment.
Given a choice between a folly and a sacrament, one should always choose the folly – because we know a sacrament will not bring us closer to god and there’s always the chance that a folly will.
You must acquire the best knowledge first, and without delay; it is the height of madness to learn what you will later have to unlearn.
You’ll see certain Pythagorean whose belief in communism of property goes to such lengths that they pick up anything lying about unguarded, and make off with it without a qualm of conscience as if it had come to them by law.
God has administered to us of the present age, a bitter draught and a harsh physician, on account of our abounding infirmities.
Many times what cannot be refuted by arguments can be parried by laughter.
Retain the wind by compressing the belly.
Modern church music is so constructed that the congregation cannot hear one distinct word.
What passes out of one’s mouth passes into a hundred ears. It is a great misfortune not to have sense enough to speak well.
By identifying the new learning with heresy, you make orthodoxy synonymous with ignorance.
It is a greater advantage to be honestly educated than honorably born.
He who doesn’t sin, is the greatest sinner of all.
Providence has decreed that those common acquisitions, money, gems, plate, noble mansions, and dominion, should be sometimes bestowed on the indolent and unworthy; but those things which constitute our true riches, and which are properly our own, must be procured by our own labor.
They are looking in utter darkness for that which has no existence whatsoever.
Read first the best books. The important thing for you is not how much you know, but the quality of what you know.
The wedlocks of minds will be greater than that of bodies.
I have turned my entire attention to Greek. The first thing I shall do, as soon as the money arrives, is to buy some Greek authors; after that, I shall buy clothes.
He who shuns the millstone, shuns the meal.