It is more civilized to make fun of life than to bewail it.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.

Life is like a play: it's not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

A great, a good, and a right mind is a kind of divinity lodged in flesh, and may be the blessing of a slave as well as of a prince: it came from heaven, and to heaven it must return; and it is a kind of heavenly felicity, which a pure and virtuous mind enjoys, in some degree, even upon earth.

The important thing about a problem is not the solution, but the strength we gain in finding a solution

Nature does not reveal her mysteries once and for all.

Let Nature make whatever use she pleases of matter, which is her own: lets us be cheerful and brave in the face of all, and consider that nothing of our own perishes. What is the duty of a good man? To offer himself to fate.