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

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.

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

What is life without the joy of Love?

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

The gods do not fight against necessity.

In this world, no word is being uselessly spoken.

Don't shortchange the future, because of fear in the present.

Advice to young writers? Always the same advice: learn to trust our own judgment, learn inner independence, learn to trust that time will sort the good from the bad– including your own bad.

This is the assembly of life that took a billion years to evolve. It has eaten the storms - folded them into its genes - and created the world that created us. It holds the world steady.

For several days after my first book was published, I carried it about in my pocket and took surreptitious peeps at it to make sure the ink had not faded.

Many people think that we have no shared value system in the world today but we actually do.

I don't want anybody to panic. I'm not pitching. I'm just throwing out the first ball.

There is no excellency without difficulty.

I think as a student I ended up liking so many different and conflicting things.

As a general rule, it is foolish to do just what other people are doing, because there are almost sure to be too many people doing the same thing.