"It is necessary, in order to know..." - Quote by Francois De La Rochefoucauld

“The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse with age.”

“As we grow older we grow both more foolish and wiser at the same time.”

“Friendship is a traffic wherein self-love always proposes to be the gainer.”

“The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.”

“'But the man who is ready to taste every form of knowledge, is glad to learn and never satisfied - he's the man who deserves to be called a philosopher, isn't he?'”

“The danger of lectures is that they create the illusion of teaching for teachers, and the illusion of learning for learners.”

“I met an American lady many years ago, much distant. Then I told her about my own difficult experiences and I showed some genuine concern. She responded, "Why are you so concerned about me?" We need more patience. At a fundamental level, we are the same human brothers and sisters. Then forget it. The human mind is very strange. Like that.”

“The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face. He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him. But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. The simplest student will be able to understand, if not all, yet a very great deal of what Plato said; but hardly anyone can understand some modern books on Platonism.”

“Life itself is a strange mixture. We have to take it as it is, try to understand it, and then to better it.”