Old age, which is dreaded by all men, is to me the sweetest and most pleasant period of my life.
I found that a strict and regular life is the true way to conquer nature, and that the proverb which says that nature is so powerful is in part false.
O wretched, miserable life! O unhappy temperament! To think that I, a man of sense, should have allowed myself to be brought to such a state by sensuality! Not to mention the pains in my stomach, my sides, and other parts of my body.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Human nature being what it is, events which happened in the past will at some time or other and in much the same ways be repeated in the future.
To consort with the crowd is harmful; there is no person who does not make some vice attractive to us, or stamp it upon us, or taint us unconsciously therewith.