“Upon this first, and in one sense this sole, rule of reason, that in order to learn you must desire to learn, and in so desiring not be satisfied with what you already incline to think, there follows one corollary which itself deserves to be inscribed upon every wall of the city of philosophy: Do not block the way of inquiry.”

“Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess.”

“To be in a war, you must learn the rules of survival… to win a war, you must break every fucking one of those rules.”

“To desire to change one’s past means there is a desire to change oneself. To desire to change oneself, one must learn to change.”

“You must learn that that’s what friends and family are for – to be imposed upon. One of the Cardinal Rules, if you want to get through life without overexerting yourself, is that, when all else fails, fall back on friends and relations.”

“If you desire to help thy friend, do so in a way that will not bring thy friend's burdens upon thyself.”