Insufficiency gives value to things: if the earth were at every step covered with pearls, they would be trodden under foot like gravel; if the phoenix were like doves, the glory of this bird would perish; plant the balsam tree on all the mountain tops, and the balsam will become a plebeian liquor; all things, once increased in number and quantity, decrease in price. And, on the contrary, by reason of insufficiency, the most trifling things were of great value: thus, in the midst of the shifting sands of Libya, the drop of water from the hand of the Roman commander excited a general envy; during the siege of the city, a hideous animal - the rat - was highly prized; and this surpasses every form of shamelessness: often the scoundrels have prospered only because the able men were wanting; I won't give examples, because he hates to write miserable names, but do we really need examples?
Neither grammar nor any other of the seven liberal arts is worth a noble mind to grow old by occupying itself with: they are only a way, not an end in themselves.
The bearers of the pompous title of philosopher either search with haughty arrogance for the causes of things, disdaining the knowledge of what God is - creator of all things, or recommend virtue in his writings, and disregard it in their lives.
The ordinary bores, and the rarity fascinates.
We know from remarkable, distinguished, experienced people that only a few are given to speak beautifully, but to all to live a beautiful life, and yet most people incline to the first, and to the second safe; this is the nature of human nature - to take what is difficult and to strive with all one's strength for that which is most difficult to obtain.
Seedlings change their sap; the forest shrub, after grafting and after changing the place, loses its old character and acquires a new one. Understand where I am knocking: I almost seem to myself one in the village and another in the city; because in the first situation I follow nature, and in the second, examples.
Wisdom and strength almost always go their separate ways: the one grows when the other flourishes, the one awakens when the other withers; if things had been otherwise, human initiatives would have been more successful, the result of action more beneficent, but for now, alas, man usually begins to know only when he ceases to be able.
Nature has fixed an inevitable end to life, so that one can always believe in the present and the near future.
Courage serves as a shield against the pressures of fate, and the fearful may be considered disarmed; the greater the fear, the greater the dangers; fate persecutes those who flee, crushes those who lie down, but those who stand upright it cannot trample...
Even if ten thousand years pass, virtue will never be sufficiently magnified, the exhortations to love God and to reject pleasure will never be enough, the path to the discovery of the new is never closed to profound minds.
Since you can't have the look you want, at least be the way you should be on the inside.
It's interesting: who prefers to have a picture of a handsome enemy instead of a slut friend?
He who has many vices has many masters.
Unhappy and uneducated people do almost everything in secret; for the happy there is no concealment and no silence.
It's amazing, but the creations of ugly people can be beautiful. We nowhere find that Phidias and Apelles are said to have been beautiful, but from one the remains of a brilliant work have been preserved, and the fame of the other has come down to us.
Evil is often better known than good, and the fearful hurricane better known than clear weather.
Often the force of shame has given many what the force of spirit has failed to achieve, and often the spectators contribute more to the overcoming of inactivity than heroism.
The more stinginess, the more cruelty.
Honoring the strong is an insignificant merit, true greatness of soul is shown in giving help to the weak.
What good was it to know a lot if you weren't able to apply your knowledge when you needed it.
I am for now one of the many, although I am persistently striving to become one of the few.
I have understood that not only to men, but also to writings, a remarkable form is sometimes inauspicious to them, and that in all things we must tend to moderation.
I have often been convinced that a simple word has a beneficial effect on many people; not the person of the speaker, but his word sets the soul in motion, mysteriously manifesting its power.
Those who are patient can make silk from leaves and honey from rose petals.
The book is a teacher that does not ask for money or gratitude. It gives you the discoveries of wisdom every moment. It is an interlocutor with a brain covered in skin, who talks to you silently about mysterious things.
When greed sounds in words, do not trust, Neither the flattery of the woman, nor the intrigues of the man.
Whoever is an authentic man, can only love someone authentic.
The name of one who devotes his life to science will be immortal even after death.
There is no sweeter friend in the world than the book.
Man cannot live forever, But happy is he whose name will be remembered.