“There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.”

“Do we, holding that the gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone control the world?”

“That mortal is a fool who, prospering, thinks his life has any strong foundation; since our fortune's course of action is the reeling way a madman takes, and no one person is ever happy all the time.”

“Human misery must somewhere have a stop; there is no wind that always blows a storm; great good fortune comes to failure in the end. All is change; all yields its place and goes; to persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage in a man. The coward despairs.”

“Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgement.”

“Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.”

“And so my thoughts have lead me to believe that childless men and women lead lives more fortunate than those with sons and daughters.”