Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness read more

Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.

Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battlefields which have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the illustrious heroes

Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battlefields which have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the illustrious heroes

Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men read more

Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate mother

Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate mother

When Misfortune is asleep, let no one wake her.
[Lat., Quando la mala ventura se duerme, nadie la despierte.]

When Misfortune is asleep, let no one wake her.
[Lat., Quando la mala ventura se duerme, nadie la despierte.]

There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate
misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil read more

There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate
misfortunes. What madness it is in your expecting evil before it
arrives!
[Lat., Nil est nec miserius nec stultius quam praetimere. Quae
ista dementia est, malum suum antecedere!]

Misfortune tests friends, and detects enemies

Misfortune tests friends, and detects enemies

Whoever has fallen from his former high estate is in his calamity
the scorn even of the base.
read more

Whoever has fallen from his former high estate is in his calamity
the scorn even of the base.
[Lat., Quicumque amisit dignitatem pristinam
Ignavis etiam jocus est in casu gravi.]

As if Misfortune made the Throne her Seat,
And none could be unhappy but the Great.

As if Misfortune made the Throne her Seat,
And none could be unhappy but the Great.