Sublime

Among the living, though, let’s not choose those who spout a great onrush of words, spinning out all the clichés and talking for the crowd even when they are at home. Instead, let’s call in those who teach by their manner of living. After saying what one ought to do, they prove it by doing so themselves; when they say one ought to avoid something,

Modesty should be the virtue of those who possess no other.

Different situations naturally call for different virtues and different epithets for the self.

“Those eager to grasp opportunities for their betterment, do attract the interest of the good goddess. She is ever anxious to aid those who please her. Men of action please her best.

A sage once reduced all virtue to the golden mean. Push right to the extreme and it becomes wrong: press all the juice from an orange and it becomes bitter. Even in enjoyment never go to extremes. Thought too subtle is dull.

The care of the wise must guard against the snare of the wicked. Great judgment is needed to test that of another. It is more important to know the characteristics and properties of persons than those of vegetables and minerals. It is indeed one of the shrewdest things in life. You can tell metals by their ring and men by their voice. Words are pro

“For I believe a good king is from the outset and by necessity a philosopher, and the philosopher is from the outset a kingly person.” —MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 8.33.32–34

The way to get on in the world is to make people believe it’s to their advantage to help you. —JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE, SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ESSAYIST AND MORALIST