It is wonderful how preposterously the affairs of the world are managed. We assemble parliaments and councils to have the benefit of collected wisdom, but we necessarily have, at the same time, the inconvenience of their collected passions, prejudices and private interests: for regulating commerce an assembly of great men is the greatest fool on earth

Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labor wears, while the used key is always bright.

Lose no time; be always employed in something useful.

Trusting too much to others care is the ruin of many.

Give me yesterday's bread, this day's flesh, and last year's cider

I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men.

I have never seen the Philosopher's Stone that turns lead into Gold, but I have known the pursuit of it turn a Man's Gold into Lead.