“No one blames a pilot who takes refuge in port when the storm begins to blow. It is not cowardice to duck under a bullet; what is wrong is to defy it only to fall and never rise again.”

“Cowardice rightly understood begins with selfishness and ends with shame.”

“One only dies once, and if one does not die well, a good opportunity is lost and will not present itself again.”

“For myself I think that one wrong does not right the other, and forgiveness cannot be won with useless tears or alms to the Church.”

“The example could encourage others who only fear to start.”

“People believe that madness is when you don't think as they do, which is why they take me for a madman.”

“He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination.”