Wit in conversation is only a readiness of thought and a facility of expression, or a quick conception and an easy delivery.

The cabinets of the sick and the closets of the dead have been ransacked to publish private letters and divulge to all mankind the most secret sentiments of friendship.

There is but one way I know of conversing safely with all men; that is, not by concealing what we say or do, but by saying or doing nothing that deserves to be concealed.

There are some solitary wretches who seem to have left the rest of mankind, only, as Eve left Adam, to meet the devil in private.

Fickle Fortune reigns, and, undiscerning, scatters crowns and chains.

Passions are the gales of life.

Oh, blindness to the future! kindly giv'n, That each may fill the circle mark'd by heaven.