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.

We all of us complain of the shortness of time, saith Seneca, and yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our lives, says he, are spent either in doing nothing at...

Suspicion is not less an enemy to virtue than to happiness; he that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly be corrupt.

To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.

The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.

The woman that deliberates is lost.

He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

Mutability of temper and inconsistency with ourselves is the greatest weakness of human nature.

The post of honour is a private station.