“Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour.”

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.”

“How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbour says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.”

“No one can lose either the past or the future - how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess? ... It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.”

“If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance.”

“Whoever does wrong, wrongs himself; whoever does injustice, does it to himself, making himself evil.”

“If any man despises me, that is his problem. My only concern is not doing or saying anything deserving of contempt.”