How despicable is that humanity, which can be contented to pity, where it might assuage!

Virtue and taste are nearly the same, for virtue is little more than active taste, and the most delicate affections of each combine in real love.

Ignorance of true pleasure more frequently than temptation to that which is false, leads to vice.

When the mind has once begun to yield to the weakness of superstition, trifles impress it with the force of conviction.

There is something in the ardour and ingenousness of youth, which is particularly pleasing to the contemplation of an old man, if his feelings have not been entirely corroded by the world.

A well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and vice. The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and ready to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness. Store it with ideas, teach it the pleasure of thinking; and the temptations of the world without, will be counteracted by the gratifications derived from the world within.

To a generous mind few circumstances are more afflicting than a discovery of perfidy in those whom we have trusted.