It is hard to be truly excellent, four-square in hand and foot and mind, formed without blemish.

A man gains no possession better than a good woman, nothing more horrible than a bad one.

If to die honorably is the greatest Part of virtue, for us fate's done her best. Because we fought to crown Greece with freedom We lie here enjoying timeless fame.

Difficult, say you? Difficult to be a man of virtue, truly good, shaped and fashioned without flaw in the perfect figure of four-squared excellence, in body and mind, in act and thought?

We did not flinch but gave our lives to save Greece when her fate hung on a razor's edge.

Of earth's goods, the best is a good wife; a bad, the bitterest curse of human life.

Not even the gods fight against necessity.

What is life without the joy of Love?

There's no joy even in beautiful Wisdom, unless one have holy Health.

Man's strength is but little, and futile his concerns.

The gods do not fight against necessity.

It isn’t what you don’t know that’s the problem. It is what you’re unwilling to ask.

A kind stranger is better than an uncaring friend.

. . . you have no idea how many people there are in the world whose day could be made and their life changed for the better if someone would just look them in the eye, smile, and say, "Hello.

Do anything that you want to do other than what you are required to do...success will surely go to others.

It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world.

People who are mean or unkind or rigid - think about it - cannot laugh at themselves. If we can't laugh at ourselves and the human condition, we're going to be mean.

Connecting to something keeps our empathy alive.

I think midwifery was developed by people with common sense, people who were close to nature, and people who observed other species of mammals and saw that there were lessons there to be learned.

I liked the challenge of writing in a very concise structure in which both meaning and form are important.

Politics is very interesting and always leads to conflict.