"Men ought either to be indulged or utterly destroyed, for if you merely offend them they take vengeance, but if you injure them greatly they are unable to retaliate, so that the injury done to a man ought to be such that vengeance cannot be feared."

"The wise man does at once what the fool does finally."

"The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes."

"No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution."

"If an eloquent speaker speak not the truth, is there a more horrid kind of object in creation?"

"The beauty of the unknown is that the pursuit of truth is a lifelong endeavor."

"It is a subtle truth that love is the bridge that unites two souls across the chasms of mortal solitude — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point."