As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Enjoy present pleasures in such a way as not to injure future ones.

Just as I shall select my ship when I am about to go on a voyage, or my house when I propose to take a residence, so I shall choose my death when I am about to depart from life.

If anyone says that the best life of all is to sail the sea, and then adds that I must not sail upon a sea where shipwrecks are a common occurrence and there are often sudden storms that sweep the helmsman in an adverse direction, I conclude that this man, although he lauds navigation, really forbids me to launch my ship.