Death is easier to bear without thinking of it, than the thought of death without peril.

Nature has some perfections to show that she is the image of God, and some defects to show that she is only His image.

Man's grandeur is that he knows himself to be miserable.

Eloquence is the painting of thought.

[On vanity:] The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the face of the earth would have changed.

Who confers reputation? who gives respect and veneration to persons, to books, to great men? Who but Opinion? How utterly insufficient are all the riches of the world without her approbation!

There are vices which have no hold upon us, but in connection with others; and which, when you cut down the trunk, fall like the branches.