Good government obtains when those who are near are made happy, and those who are far off are attracted.
Three friendships are advantageous,—friendship with the upright, friendship with the sincere, and friendship with the man of observation. Three are injurious,—friendship with the man of specious airs, friendship with the insinuatingly soft, and friendship with the glib-tongued.
To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage.
The cautious seldom err.
If I am building a mountain, and stop before the last basketful of earth is placed on the summit, I have failed of my work. But if I have placed but one basketful on the plain and go on, I am really building a mountain.
Shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to confess your ignorance—is knowledge.
Extravagance leads to insubordination, and parsimony to meanness. It is better to be mean than insubordinate.
Learn the past, and you will know the future.
A poor man who flatters not and a rich man who is not proud, are passable characters; but they are not equal to the poor who are yet cheerful, and the rich who yet love the rules of propriety.
When you transgress, fear not to return.