Spade! Thou art a tool of honor in my hands. I press thee, through a yielding soil, with pride.
Man (in good earnest) is a marvellous vain, fickle, and unstable subject, and on whom it is very hard to form any certain and uniform judgment.
Every man has within himself the entire human condition
It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.
Only the fools are certain and assured.
Make your educational laws strict and your criminal ones can be gentle; but if you leave youth its liberty you will have to dig dungeons for ages.
On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.
I try very hard to tell stories and not lecture. I try to approach things as an amateur and not an expert, so that when I'm doing something, I'm starting out in a place a lot like where my readers start out - which is to say, naïve.
You will always win if you make an effort, no matter how much. However, if you failed it means you were too lazy.
The answer to human life is not to be found within the limits of human life.
I find virtue to be found amongst the farmers of the country alone, not about courts, where courtiers dwell.