Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost. - Arthur Schopenhauer

we generally find pleasure to be not nearly so pleasant as we expected, and pain very much more painful.

Very often inertia, selfishness, and vanity play the greatest role in our trust in others; inertia when we prefer to trust somebody else, in order not to investigate, be vigilant, or act ourselves; selfishness when the desire to speak about our own affairs tempts us to confide in someone else; vanity when it concers something that we are proud of.

Clio, the muse of history, is as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis.