In every affair consider what precedes and what follows, and then undertake it.

There are some things which men confess with ease, and others with difficulty.

Reason is not measured by size or height, but by principle.

To a reasonable creature, that alone is insupportable which is unreasonable but everything reasonable may be supported.

Any one thing in the creation is sufficient to demonstrate a Providence to a humble and grateful mind.

A child understands fear, and the hurt and hate it brings.

It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortune; of one entering instruction, to reproach himself; and one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others nor himself.

Control thy passions, lest they take vengeance on thee.

Bear in mind that you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast.

Tell me where I can escape death: discover for me the country, show me the men to whom I must go, whom death does not visit. Discover to me a charm against death. If I have not one, what do you wish me to do? I cannot escape from death, but shall I die lamenting and trembling? . . . Therefore, if I am able to change externals according to my wish, I change them: but if I cannot, I am ready to tear the eyes out of him who hinders me.