I never knew any man in my life who could not bear another's misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.

Man, like the generous vine, supported lives; the strength he gains is from the embrace he gives.

Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes: the glorious fault of angels and of gods.

Death, only death, can break the lasting chain; And here, ev'n then, shall my cold dust remain

I begin where most people end, with a full conviction of the emptiness of all sorts of ambition, and the unsatisfactory nature of all human pleasures.

To pardon those absurdities in ourselves which we cannot suffer in others is neither better nor worse than to be more willing to be fools ourselves than to have others so.

What's fame? a fancy'd life in other's breath. A thing beyond us, even before our death.