A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.

There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady’s head-dress.

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.

If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. He has a heart capable of mirth, and naturally disposed to it.

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.

Jealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves.

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind, the latter to preserve themselves.

To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.

With regard to donations always expect the most from prudent people, who keep their own accounts.

Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating...

Nothing is capable of being well set to music that is not nonsense.

Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor.

Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are often too full to be exact, and therefore they choose to throw down their pearls in heaps before...

Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.

Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.

The utmost extent of man’s knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.

The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.

The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.

There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.

It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have...

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady...

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

There is nothing more requisite in business than despatch.

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.

The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life… Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality.

Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.

Jesters do often prove prophets.

What pity is it That we can die, but once to serve our country.

Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!

Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.

Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before...

If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.

The fear of death often proves mortal, and sets people on methods to save their Lives, which infallibly destroy them.

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture.

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.

Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of torrents, nor demolished by the force of armies.

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.

Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel.