Why is it that all those who have become eminent in philosophy, politics, poetry, or the arts are clearly of an atrabilious temperament and some of them to such an extent as to be affected by diseases caused by black bile?

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

We must be neither cowardly nor rash but courageous.

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.

The true and the approximately true are apprehended by the same faculty; it may also be noted that men have a sufficient natural instinct for what is true, and usually do arrive at the truth. Hence the man who makes a good guess at truth is likely to make a good guess at probabilities.

The society that loses its grip on the past is in danger, for it produces men who know nothing but the present, and who are not aware that life had been, and could be, different from what it is.

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousand fold.

The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor; it is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity of the dissimilar.

Something is infinite if, taking it quantity by quantity, we can always take something outside.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.

Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.

No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world.

No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

Men acquire particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way

Man is by nature a political animal.

Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.

Liars when they speak the truth are not believed.

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

It is possible to fail in many ways…while to succeed is possible only in one way.

It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.