I have had good experience and trial of this world...I know what it is to be a subject, what to be a sovereign, what to have good neighbours, and sometimes meet evil willers. I have found treason in trust, seen great benefits little regarded.

You don't become what you want, you become what you believe

Fine clothes may disguise, but silly words will disclose a fool.

The future is uncertain but the end is always near.

Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness.

Doubt is the origin of wisdom

Learn as though you would never be able to master it; hold it as though you would be in fear of losing it.

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

Taste every fruit of every tree in the garden at least once. It is an insult to creation not to experience it fully. Temperance is wickedness.

Boredom is the root of all evil - the despairing refusal to be oneself.

Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there.

It has seemed to be more necessary to have regard to the weight of words rather than to their number.

It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.

It is not the strength, but the duration, of great sentiments that makes great men.

We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough?

Be realistic: Plan for a miracle