There is nothing so unready as readiness of wit.

The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy.

Man spends his life in reasoning on the past, in complaining of the present, in fearing future.

It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit.

Of every ten persons who talk about you, nine will say something bad, and the tenth will say something good in a bad way.

The absolute ruler may be a Nero, but he is sometimes a Titus or Marc Aurelius; the people is often Nero, but never Marc Aurelius.

To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.

Gold like the sun, which melts wax, but hardens clay, expands great souls.

The only thing wealth does for some people is to make them worry about losing it.

The modest man has everything to gain, and the arrogant man everything to lose; for modesty has always to deal with generosity, and arrogance with envy.

Opinions, theories, and systems pass by turns over the grindstone of time, which at first gives them brilliancy and sharpness, but finally wears them out.

Stop being the sheep and become the lion my friend!

Shoo. Away with you. It's my fault for expecting the extraordinary from the ordinary.

Pinocchio, spurred on by the hope of finding his father and of being in time to save him, swam all night long.

And each of us can practice rights ourselves, treating each other without discrimination, respecting each other's dignity and rights.

I'd never understood the injunction not to regret anything, couldn't see how that wasn't cowardice.

Truth is the foundation of all knowledge and the cement of all societies.

My youth passed at the time of the country's reconstruction from the ruins and ashes of the war in which my nation never bowed to the enemy paying the highest price in the struggle.

The fairest blossoms of pleasantry thrive best where the sun is not strong enough to scorch, nor the soil rank enough to corrupt.

Look at football, where you still have injuries no matter how much they improve the helmets and other equipment.

Desperate times breed desperate measures