A good thing is twice as good if it doesn't last.
You want to be respected - don't start with insults.
The most terrible enemies are former friends: they strike in the weak places, known only to themselves, they strike where it hurts the most.
The vorbei man and the deed man. Distinguishing them is as important as knowing who is your real friend and who likes you because of your position. It is bad when a man is good at work, but bad at speaking; but it's even worse when he's good at talking and not doing much at work.
The successful man. He who enters Fortune's palace through the gates of joy, leaves through the gates of sorrow - and vice versa. Therefore, think about how a thing ends, how to go out happy, not how to go in nice.
The man who knows how to wait. He must be endowed with much courage and with much patience. Never rush or get hot. Learn to dominate yourself, because that's how you'll dominate others. A favorable situation is reached with a lot of patience.
Exaggerated simplicity in conduct brings vulgarity.
What is past is more pleasant; what is far, awakens desire.
Good deeds are needed to win someone's favor: do good right and left, do not be stingy with good words and, above all, with good deeds - love to be loved.
An acceptable joke is pleasant and depends on the ability of each person to receive it. He who loses his temper because of irony, gives reasons to be ironized again.
A noble character is only one who does not pursue advantages.
Most people spend half their lives making the other half miserable.
Let's laugh without waiting for the moment when we will feel happy, otherwise we risk dying without having ever laughed.
It is good to be a philosopher; just having its reputation - not very useful.
Don't think of calling someone a philosopher: this word is considered, with us it's almost an insult and it will be like that until people, changing their views, restore its original high meaning and surround it with due respect.
In divulging a secret, the one who confided it to another is always guilty.
Look at a clock: the wheels, the springs—in a word, the whole mechanism—are visible; we only see the needle which insensibly completes its circular course, then begins another. It is the same with the life of the courtier: not infrequently, having reached far enough, he finds himself at the point of departure.
All passions are deceptive: they strive to put on a mask, they hide from themselves. There is no vice which does not disguise itself in some virtue or which does not jump to the aid of virtue.
Above the great politician I place the one who does not want to become a great politician, because day by day I am convinced that this world is not worth spending our energies on.
Even the best advice often causes us dissatisfaction: it is enough that it does not come from us; haughtiness and pride prompt us to disregard it, and if we happen to follow it, we do so only after long consideration, and only by virtue of absolute necessity.
Intrigues need mind, but when there is enough mind a man finds himself so high in relation to intrigues and schemes that he does not descend to them; in this case he achieves success and fame in entirely different ways.
And at the dawn and dusk of love, people always experience a sense of confusion when they are left alone.
Two paths lead to a high position: the straight, beaten path, and the detouring side path that is much shorter.
How hard it is to please someone!
When the crowd is troubled, no one can tell how it can be restored to peace. When she is calm, no one knows what can disturb her peace.
The end comes every now and then, but we wait for it all our lives: the fear of death is more tormenting than death itself.
Extremes are always vicious, because they come from man; the balance is always right because it comes from God.
To him who walks slowly and unhurriedly, no road seems long; he who patiently prepares for the road, reaches the goal without fail.
Logic is, it seems, the science of proving some truth, and eloquence is a gift that allows us to control the mind and heart of the interlocutor, the ability to explain or instill in him everything we want.
People, for the most part, first get angry and then throw an insult; others, however, do the opposite: first insult and then get angry.