“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

“I've written some poetry I don't understand myself.”

“Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.”

“For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.”

“Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance.”

“I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.”