"The acquisition of riches has been for many men not an end, but a change, of troubles."

"The limit of quantity in pleasures is the removal of all that is painful. Wherever and whenever this is present, pleasure is no longer increased, but has reached its stationary maximum."

"We should not believe in fate, but in our own free will."

"Natural wealth is both limited and easy to acquire; but the wealth defined by vain fancies is always beyond reach."

"A free man cannot acquire many possessions, because this is not an easy thing to do without at the same time becoming a slave to mobs or kings."