I strive to be brief, and I become obscure.

Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed.

The envious die not once, but as oft as the envied win applause.

Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies.

Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.

Don't show off every day, or you'll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.

Quit while you're ahead. All the best gamblers do.

A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.

It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards.

Evil report carries further than any applause.

Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not, it is wise to affect ignorance.

True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island... to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.

Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.

Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it.

Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.

Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit.

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

A beautiful woman should break her mirror early.

Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.

When desire dies, fear is born.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.

Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favors by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying any one long on her shoulders.

It is better to have too much courtesy than too little, provided you are not equally courteous to all, for that would be injustice.

Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness.

We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend.

Hope is a great falsifier. Let good judgment keep her in check.

Dreams will get you nowhere, a good kick in the pants will take you a long way.

He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well.

He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.

Things do not pass for what they are, but for what they seem. Most things are judged by their jackets.

Never have a companion that casts you in the shade.

Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn't being applauded when you arrive - for that is common - but being missed when you leave.

A man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.

To oblige persons often costs little and helps much.

It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.

Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one.

He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much, and God in everything.

Little said is soon amended. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one.

Let him that hath no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.

The wise does at once what the fool does at last.

True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.

Begin with another's to end with your own.

The things we remember best are those better forgotten.

Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than grave teaching.

Know or listen to those who know.

Have friends. 'Tis a second existence.

It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it.