“No one ever accepts criticism so cheerfully. Neither the man who utters it nor the man who invites it really means it.”

“I dream of a true husband—a good man, not a brute, nor a champion of men on the battlefield; I dream but of a gentle man, one who neither speaks too loud nor ignores evil. I pray for such a like-minded mate, who will be ever for me like harmony to music, virtue to the soul, prosperity to the state, and forethought to the universe.”

“But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.”

“Use, do not abuse; the wise man arrange things so. I flee Epictetus and Petronius alike. Neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.”

“Man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that he who would act the angel acts the brute.”

“and the same man who spends so many days and nights in fury and despair at losing some office or at some imaginary affront to his honour is the very one who knows that he is going to lose everything through death and feels neither anxiety nor emotion.”