“Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue-to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak.”

“See one promontory, one mountain, one sea, one river and see all.”

“Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death.”

“How many are the things I can do without!”

“One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.”

“They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed.”

“Know thyself.”

“To find yourself, think for yourself. ”

“I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my other senses I might blind my soul altogether.”

“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”

“What a lot of things there are a man can do without.”

“Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.”

“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.”

“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.”

“Everything is useful which contributes to fix in the principles and practices of virtue.”

“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden…But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.”

“But this momentous question. Like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror.”

“Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.”

“That will always appear to be his native language which was most familiar to him in his youth.”

“No instance exists of a person’s writing two languages perfectly.”

“Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.”

“Half a loaf is better than no bread.”

“It is my rule never to take a side in any part in the quarrels of others, nor to inquire into them. I generally presume them to flow from the indulgence of too much passion on both sides, & always find that each party thinks all the wrong was in his adversary. These bickerings, which are always useless, embitter human life more than any other cause…”

“As new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.”