Pass on hiring people you don't need, even if you think that person's a great catch.

Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

You are not very good if you are not better than your best friends imagine you to be.

If you can’t fire your best friend or your brother, don’t hire them.

You are good for nothing unless you are clever.

I do not wish you to believe that I assume to be any better than others who have gone before me.

If you can't imitate him, don't copy him.

If you think you are capable of living without writing, do not write,

You don't have to try to be good; you just need to stop pretending to be what you are not.

It is no use being your own master unless you can stand up for yourself.

You cannot learn what you are made of if you rely on anyone or anything else to help you.

Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.

You don't have to justify your education by demonstrating its financial rewards. Anyone who expects you to has no sense of the arts.

Only he who has no use for the empire is fit to be entrusted with it.