"The first principle of all action is..." - Quote by Aristotle

“In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge.”

“For legislators make the citizens good by forming habits in them, and this is the wish of every legislator, and those who do not effect it miss their mark, and it is in this that a good constitution differs from a bad one.”

“Rhetoric is useful because truth and justice are in their nature stronger than their opposites; so that if decisions be made, not in conformity to the rule of propriety, it must have been that they have been got the better of through fault of the advocates themselves: and this is deserving reprehension.”

“Whatever is done without ostentation, and without the people being witnesses of it, is, in my opinion, most praiseworthy: not that the public eye should be entirely avoided, for good actions desire to be placed in the light; but notwithstanding this, the greatest theater for virtue is conscience.”

“We know the good, we apprehend it clearly; but we can't bring it to achievement.”

“Painting fulfills a need to be non-intellectual. There are times when we have to get our brains out in our fingers.”

“What can be better than to get out a book on Saturday afternoon and thrust all mundane considerations away till next week.”

“Leisure is the time for doing something useful.”

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”