"If you wish to be good, know that you are bad."

"If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, 'He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone…"

"To receive benefits is to lose liberty."

"Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others."

"As long as you are a human being, you are a member of a great whole, and you have a part to play. If you play it badly, you will be hissed off the stage; if well, applauded."