Sloth, if it has prevented many crimes, has also smothered many virtues.

When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Genius, in one respect, is like gold; numbers of persons are constantly writing about both, who have neither.

Villains are usually the worst casuists, and rush into crimes to avoid less. Henry VIII. committed murder to avoid the imputation of adultery; and in our times, those who commit the latter crime attempt to wash off the stain of seducing the wife by signifying their readiness to shoot the husband.

He that abuses his own profession will not patiently bear with any one else who does so. And this is one of our most subtle operations of self-love. For when we abuse our own profession, we tacitly except ourselves; but when another abuses it, we are far from being certain that this is the case.

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them.

No two things differ more than hurry and despatch. Hurry is the mark of a weak mind; despatch of a strong one.