Men and statues that are admired ire an elevated situation have a very different effect upon us when we approach them; the first appear less than we imagined them, the last bigger.

Whatever natural right men may have to freedom and independency, it is manifest that some men have a natural ascendency over others.

The world is an excellent judge in general, but a very bad one in particular.

The mind of man is this world's true dimension; and knowledge is the measure of the mind.

Despair gives the shocking ease to the mind that a mortification gives to the body.

True delicacy, as true generosity, is more wounded by an offence from itself--if I may be allowed the expression--than to itself.

Those men who are commended by everybody must be very extraordinary men; or, which is more probable, very inconsiderable men.