Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other.
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
It would be better if there were nothing. Since there is more pain than pleasure on earth, every satisfaction is only transitory, creating new desires and new distresses, and the agony of the devoured animal is always far greater than the pleasure of the devourer.
The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure....you are above everything distressing.
In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order. I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order.