The best excuse is to have none.

Life is not meant to be hard: if it is, we make it so.

Let not adversity oppress thee: be rather like unto the nail; the farther 'tis hammered, the firmer it holds.

Few can tell what they know without also showing what they do not know.

Experience is the only good 'tis safer to borrow than to buy.

To be most fertile, the soil must first be torn up; and shall not thy soul accept suffering for the sake of better growth?

We are not men, but promises of men.

What we know is to what we do not know, as a grain of sand is to the beach.

Only he has a right to complain of undeserved misfortune, that is unwilling to accept undeserved good fortune.

As the paper though it entereth the press white, yet when it cometh forth black is eagerly sought to be perused; so do thou let thy life, though darkened by adversity, be made all the more useful to thy fellows.

Our comforts come from God; our sorrows, from ourselves.

Men are willing to admit that they are sinners, but not that they are sinning.

Better to think wrongly with your own head, than to think rightly with the head of another.

To go through life without love is to travel through the world in a carriage with closed windows.

Our worst enemies are those we least suspect--ourselves.

Many a fine sermon doth Nature preach on the ever-new, forever-transgressed text of silence. It is not the roaring thunder that smites, but the silent lightning; and gravity, which bindeth worlds together and keepeth them from falling asunder, is ever silent. Prettily, too, doth the silent snow cover the ground, and make it like unto a table spread for a feast: unlike the noisy rain, which, after making a goodly number of puddles, quickly runneth off.

The greatest pleasures of love are inseparable from its greatest pains: Love has the face of a goddess, but the talons of a lion.

Wherefore groan and lament over pain? Be, rather, thankful for this one sign of life; for the dead suffer no pain, and lay figures are never chilled by frost.

Pride not thyself upon thy talents: they were given thee at thy birth. Hast thou done aught before thy birth to deserve them?

Not he deserves praise that has talents, but he that uses them.

History is not fable agreed upon, but truth disagreed upon.

Were the husband as blind to the faults of the wife, as the lover to the faults of the maiden, few unhappy marriages would follow happy courtships.

It may be true that love is blind, but only for what is ugly: its sight is keen enough for what is beautiful.

A half-truth does more mischief than a whole lie.

From the moment we expect gratitude, we forfeit it.

How adversity doth ope the eye! A moon can be seen by day as well as by night; but, to see the stars, you must be in darkness.

The wealthy seldom possess wealth: oftener they are possessed by it.

Few have opinions: fewer still have their own opinions.

Men's eyes are in their heads; women's, in their hearts.

To go into temptation to find how strong you are, is as wise as to go before a mirror, with closed eyes, to find how you look when asleep.

We are most happy when least aware of happiness.

Fortunes are made by taking opportunities: character is made by making them.

For misdirected love, the attainment of its object is, indeed, the best cure; but it cures as the guillotine cures headache.

Gossip is putting two and two together, and making it five.

Of the future, man knows least; yet, about this, he worries most.

The best way to deceive a knave is to tell him the truth.

The wise man hath his thoughts in his head; the fool, on his tongue.

The great historian is he that can distinguish what is done from what happens.

Experience, if we only learn by it, is cheap at any price.

Better to deserve praise without having it, than to have it without deserving it.

Love is not like the echo, which returneth only what is given; but, rather, like the pump, which returneth by the pail what it received by the pint.

Love, and thou shalt be loved: be a friend, and thou shalt have friends.

Doubt is the tax man pays for the luxury of useless knowledge.

Better to keep peace than to gain a victory.

If we cannot teach beasts to speak, we can at least learn silence from them.

If you must hate a man for the many things about which you disagree, remember that you should also love him for the many things about which you agree.

If silence is good for the wise, how much better is it for the foolish!

To struggle for virtue, is to be virtuous.

It needs as much generosity to take as to give.

As the flower, when plucked for enjoyment, begins to wither, so does virtue practiced for reward begin to vanish.

Riches I may owe to Fortune; beauty, to my parents; but character I can owe only to myself.

The best life is that which makes the best of life.

Solve the problem of life? Live, and you solve it.

As you do not sweeten your mouth by saying honey, so you do not grow virtuous by merely talking of virtue.

Thou shalt not only fly, but also take others on thy wings; for thy strength is given thee wherewith to help the weak.

From the moment perfection is attained, 'tis gone.

Better to fail in the pursuit of the noble, than to succeed in the search for the mean.

Light may be produced by candle, by oil, by gas, by electricity: warmth by wood, by coal, by steam. As it would be foolish for the user of one means to disparage all the others, so 'tis foolish to fret because the manner in which others are virtuous differs from ours.

The small charity that comes from the heart is better than the great charity that comes from the head.

Though my sight be lost, I do not yet lose my faith: when I can no longer see, I can still believe.

As the dog runneth after him that flees, but flees him that standeth still; so misfortune pursueth those that flee from her, but flees those that face her.

Learn to bear suffering, and it shall bear thee.

The danger from lightning is gone when the thunder is heard, and the worst is over when misfortune has arrived.

In times of success remember many have succeeded even better than thou: in times of failure, remember many have failed even worse than thou.

However bad a man, he will have some friends: however good, he will have some enemies.

The furnace which melts gold, also hardens clay. Before blaming thy fate, therefore, find whether thou art gold or clay.

As the worm crawleth up to the surface only when it rains, so doth a man's best self emerge only in misfortune.

Hast thou fallen? Do not groan and lament: rather be thankful for the opportunity given thee to rise once more.

As long as I fear my weakness, I am stronger than when I trust my strength.

As the sea is beautiful not only in calm but also in storm, so is happiness found not only in peace but also in strife.

Trouble not thyself about the fate of thy writings: if what thou hast writ be worth preserving, no flood, however mighty, can sweep it away; if it be worthless, no ink, however prepared, can make it indelible.

The harder thy fate, the softer thine heart.