There Is Nothing So Fleeting

The Affairs Of This World Are So Shifting And Depend On So Many Accidents, That It Is Hard To Form Any Judgment Concerning The Future; Nay, We See From Experience That The Forecasts Even Of The Wise Almost Always Turn Out False.

Even Though Many People Prove To Be Ungrateful, Do Not Let That Stop You From Benefiting Others-for Not Only Is Beneficence In Itself A Noble And Almost Divine Quality, It May Also Happen That While You Practice It, You Will Encounter Someone So Grateful That He Will Make Up For All The Others' Ingratitude.

Affairs That Depend On Many Rarely Succeed.

He Who Imitates What Is Evil Always Goes Beyond The Example That Is Set; On The Contrary, He Who Imitates What Is Good Always Falls Short.

To Relinquish A Present Good Through Apprehension Of A Future Evil Is In Most Instances Unwise ... From A Fear Which May Afterwards Turn Out Groundless, You Lost The Good That Lay Within Your Grasp.