Aphorisms

"It is bad management when we suffer fortune to be our guide."

"They live ill who expect to live always."

"He who is bent on doing evil, can never want occasion."

"It is a bad plan that admits of no modification."

"He should be called bad, who is good only for selfish ends."

"He will become wicked himself, who feasts with the wicked."

"Fear, and not kindness, restrains the vicious."

"The master who fears his slave, is the greater slave."

"To depend on another's nod for a livelihood, is a sad destiny."

"Methinks you are unhappy, if you never have been so."

"Delay is always vexatious, but it is wisdom's opportunity."

"Understand your friend's character, but do not hate it."

"The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself."

"Every thing which has birth, must pay tribute to death."

"We should bear our destiny, not weep over it."

"Avarice never lacks a reason for refusing a favor."

"No one should be judge in his own cause."

"Be the first to laugh at your own blunder, and no one will laugh at you."

"Depravity is its own greatest punishment."

"Fortune takes nothing away but her own gifts."

"There is no more shameful sight, than an old man commencing life."

"The truth is lost when there is too much contention about it."

"It is only the ignorant who despise education."

"It is vain to be the pupil of a sage if you have no brains yourself."

"He can best avoid a snare who knows how to set one."

"Do not despise the lowest steps in the ascent to greatness."

"He is not likely to perish in the ruins who trembles at a crack in the wall."

"To control a man against his will, is not to correct him, but injure him."

"That is not yours which fortune made yours."

"You will find it difficult to be sole guardian over that which multitudes covet."

"He bids fair to grow wise, who has discovered that he is not so."

"Don't consider how many you can please, but whom."

"It is not safe to indulge in a play of wits with kings."

"To yield to our friends is not to be overcome, but to conquer."

"There is no pleasure which continued enjoyment cannot render disgusting."

"He is never happy whose thoughts always run with his fears."

"The kind attentions of the wife, speedily gender disgust for the concubine."

"He is a despicable sage whose wisdom does not profit himself."

"A cheerful obedience is universal, when the worthy bear rule."

"Every day should be passed as if it were to be our last."

"Be at war with men's vices, at peace with themselves."

"Craft, and not sorrow, is seen in a hypocrite's tears."

"We find something of the favor sought in a graceful refusal."

"Patience and fortitude create their own happiness."

"You do well to consider your friend's error your own."

"Be your money's master, not its slave."

"To take refuge with an inferior, is to betray one's self."

"Hearken rather to your conscience than to opinion."

"Freedom alone is the source of noble action."

"When you have good materials, employ good workmen."