Our list of Seneca Quotes
It does not matter how many books you have but how good the books are.
(2 minutes read)
The Seneca's quote says that it is unnecessary to have many books, but it is enough to have only quality ones.
We determine the quality of a book by what we can gain from it, that is, all the valuable information to ourselves.
It is best to surround ourselves with valuable items that enrich our thinking and improve our lives.
To understand whether an individual or an object is valuable, we have to see if, at first glance, that element conveyed uniqueness and curiosity to us. After that, we have to confront that element to understand its actual value and decide whether it is useful.
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
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The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.
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One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.
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If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
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Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
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True happiness is... to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.
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A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
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We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.
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A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.
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Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
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It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
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It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.
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He who is brave is free.
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It is quality rather than quantity that matters.
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Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing.
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As long as you live, keep learning how to live.
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Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.
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Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war.
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Love in its essence is spiritual fire.
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Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
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As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
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While we are postponing, life speeds by.
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All cruelty springs from weakness.
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Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.
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Life's like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.
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Life, if well lived, is long enough.
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The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.
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The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.
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The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
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All art is but imitation of nature.
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Death is the wish of some, the relief of many, and the end of all.
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For greed all nature is too little.
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It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand.
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Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.
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A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.
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Everywhere is nowhere. When a person spends all his time in foreign travel, he ends by having many acquaintances, but no friends.
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He who does not prevent a crime when he can, encourages it.
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Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.
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Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.
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Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.
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If you wished to be loved, love.
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Every guilty person is his own hangman.
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If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.
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A great fortune is a great slavery.
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Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.
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The wish for healing has always been half of health.
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Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody.
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He who has great power should use it lightly.
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Even after a bad harvest there must be sowing.
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It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, - superfluous things that wear our togas theadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores.
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No man was ever wise by chance.
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The things hardest to bear are sweetest to remember.
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When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.
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No one can be happy who has been thrust outside the pale of truth. And there are two ways that one can be removed from this realm: by lying, or by being lied to.
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Time discovers truth.
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Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.
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I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives.
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No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.
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Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them.
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You learn to know a pilot in a storm.
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Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.
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There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.
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A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.
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I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
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The way is long if one follows precepts, but short... if one follows patterns.
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So live with men as if God saw you and speak to God, as if men heard you.
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The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.
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A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.
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Where fear is, happiness is not.
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The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.
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If you judge, investigate.
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The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man... It is more powerful than external circumstances.
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He who has made a fair compact with poverty is rich.
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Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.
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You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.
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There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.
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Shall I tell you what the real evil is? To cringe to the things that are called evils, to surrender to them our freedom, in defiance of which we ought to face any suffering.
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Anger is like those ruins which smash themselves on what they fall.
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Shame may restrain what law does not prohibit.
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We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.
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Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.
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Life is warfare.
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Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.
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Everything is the product of one universal creative effort. There is nothing dead in Nature. Everything is organic and living, and therefore the whole world appears to be a living organism.
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A person's fears are lighter when the danger is at hand.
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In war there is no prize for runner-up.
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If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.
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A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor.
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It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.
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The deferring of anger is the best antidote to anger.
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There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.
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Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.
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The heart is great which shows moderation in the midst of prosperity.
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A large part of mankind is angry not with the sins, but with the sinners.
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Those who boast of their descent, brag on what they owe to others.
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For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them.
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We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered today? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
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It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess.
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What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.
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Whatever fortune has raised to a height, she has raised only to cast it down.
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That which is given with pride and ostentation is rather an ambition than a bounty.
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There is no delight in owning anything unshared.
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No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.
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It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.
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A man's as miserable as he thinks he is.
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Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.
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I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace; some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.
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Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.
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He has committed the crime who profits by it.
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There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it.
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Whatever is well said by another, is mine.
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What nature requires is obtainable, and within easy reach. It is for the superfluous we sweat.
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A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts.
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Poverty wants some, luxury many, and avarice all things.
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Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself.
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Modesty forbids what the law does not.
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Do everything as in the eye of another.
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Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.
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If you would judge, understand.
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It is the failing of youth not to be able to restrain its own violence.
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We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres, or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.
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It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.
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We often want one thing and pray for another, not telling the truth even to the gods.
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That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.
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Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones on hand do more to produce a happy life than the volumes we can't find.
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I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open?
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Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.
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One must steer, not talk.
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God is the universal substance in existing things. He comprises all things. He is the fountain of all being. In Him exists everything that is.
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Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.
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The approach of liberty makes even an old man brave.
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Every sin is the result of a collaboration.
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He who dreads hostility too much is unfit to rule.
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A well governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.
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Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.
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Every reign must submit to a greater reign.
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It is another's fault if he be ungrateful, but it is mine if I do not give. To find one thankful man, I will oblige a great many that are not so.
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In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.
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He that does good to another does good also to himself.
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Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.
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Light troubles speak; the weighty are struck dumb.
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Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.
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May be is very well, but Must is the master. It is my duty to show justice without recompense.
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A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two.
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To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.
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We become wiser by adversity; prosperity destroys our appreciation of the right.
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To keep oneself safe does not mean to bury oneself.
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See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.
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When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
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Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life - in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.
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Consider, when you are enraged at any one, what you would probably think if he should die during the dispute.
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Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.
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The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.
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The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned.
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What is true belongs to me!
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There is none made so great, but he may both need the help and service, and stand in fear of the power and unkindness, even of the meanest of mortals.
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The first step in a person's salvation is knowledge of their sin.
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There is a noble manner of being poor, and who does not know it will never be rich.
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Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them.
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True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong.
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Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.
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The first and greatest punishment of the sinner is the conscience of sin.
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No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.
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Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.
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Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.
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No one is laughable who laughs at himself.
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Crime when it succeeds is called virtue.
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Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?
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Whatever one of us blames in another, each one will find in his own heart.
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No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.
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Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.
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Nothing becomes so offensive so quickly as grief. When fresh it finds someone to console it, but when it becomes chronic, it is ridiculed, and rightly.
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It makes a great deal of difference whether one wills not to sin or has not the knowledge to sin.
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When we are well, we all have good advice for those who are ill.
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A great mind becomes a great fortune.
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One crime has to be concealed by another.
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Nothing is void of God, his work is everywhere his full of himself.
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The bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven; the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth.
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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
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True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.
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Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
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You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.
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If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.
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It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.
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The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will come a time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come, when memory of us will have been effaced.
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It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. ... The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.
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Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.
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If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.
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Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.
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What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.
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They lose the day in expectation of the night, and the night in fear of the dawn.
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If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according what others think, you will never be rich.
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