Be natural in everything. Nature brings out qualities, inspires speech, enlivens things, accentuates all that is wonderful in man.
Don't share bad news, and more than that, don't listen to it.
Never act under the sway of passion - it will backfire.
Whoever is out of his mind is no longer responsible for his own actions, passion drives out reason.
Never fight with the one who has nothing to lose: it is an unequal battle.
Never show a thing only half finished - let them admire it when it's done. The beginning is always imperfect, and this imperfect image remains in the memory: its memory alters the satisfaction offered by a finished thing.
A man is judged by the friends he has.
Surround yourself with those you can learn from. Let the contact with your friends be your school of knowledge, and your conversation an elegant and pleasant teaching: look upon your friends as teachers, and profit by the enjoyment of conversation.
Do not overload yourself with hardships or envy - you will drain your life and kill your spirit. Some extend these rules to knowledge - but he who does not know does not live.
Not dealing with a thing is a lesser misfortune than indecisiveness.
It is not the flowing water that changes, but the standing water. Some don't take a step unless you prod them; and sometimes the cause lies not in the stupidity of the mind—their minds can be shrewd—but in the weakness of it.
Don't share bad news, and more than that, don't listen to it. There is no desert more desolate than a friendless life; friendship increases happiness and decreases unhappiness; consolation for the soul, it is the only remedy against an adverse fate.
Some of the friends are good at a distance and others, close; he who is not very good at conversation, is very gifted at correspondence.
Distance softens flaws that, up close, are unbearable.
The assent of the wise. A cold yes from a remarkable man is more flattering than praise from the crowd.
Originality is a kind of self-delusion, pleasant at first and tempting with novelty and sharpness, but which, later, when nothing good comes of it and when you mature, is very regrettable.
The appearance of man is the mirror of the soul.
Friendly honesty is especially dangerous: you have told another a personal secret - you have become his slave... Thus, do not listen to secrets and do not reveal them yourself.
Don't get bored. So that the lips ask for a little more nectar. Desire is the measure of value. Good taste even advises to satiate bodily hunger, but not to quench it; good and little is twice as good.
In an argument, you lose more if you are stubborn than you win victoriously - you are not defending the truth, but your own lack of education.
Keeping the heart under control is a great victory! You can conquer her neither by courage nor by boring jokes - she submits only by decent security, born of morality and founded on dignity.
Put yourself to the test. A serious mind must understand the mind of another - thus the insight of the wise confronts the restraint of the self-absorbed.
Use the fact that you are new; as long as you are a novelty, you are valued. The new pleases, gives variety, enlivens the pleasure - a new mediocrity is more appreciated than a celebrity we are used to.
Understanding life and being good at people are far from the same thing. Great art consists in understanding characterization and perceiving moods.
Sometimes, to lose a friend is enough to not return a service: not being able to return the debt, he moves away, and the debtor is no longer your friend.
Fairness is manifested in speech, but even more precisely, in deeds.
Actions are the fruits of intentions. If the intentions are good, then the deeds will be good.
We see the truth more often and hear it less often - never in its pure form, especially when it comes from afar: in it there is always an extra bias that has left traces.
A blameless man, knowing no fear, is always on the side of justice - neither the passions of the crowd, nor the compulsion of the tyrant can force him to overstep his bounds.
He prefers laudable occupations. In life, much depends on the judgment of the world. Praise is to human potential what wind is to flowers - food and life.