He that swells in prosperity will be sure to shrink in adversity.

We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit.

Too high an appreciation of our own talents is the chief cause why experience preaches to us all in vain.

Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.

Emulation has been termed a spur to virtue, and assumes to be a spur of gold. But it is a spur composed of baser materials, and if tried in the furnace will be found to want that fixedness which is the characteristic of gold. He that pursues virtue, only to surpass others, is not far from wishing others less forward than himself; and he that rejoices too much at his own perfections will be too little grieved at the defects of other men.

That alliance may be said to have a double tie, where the minds are united as well as the body; and the union will have all its strength when both the links are in perfection together.

It has been well observed that the tongue discovers the state of the mind no less than that of the body; but in either case, before the philosopher or the physician can judge, the patient must open his mouth.