No man can promise himself even fifty years of life, but any man may, if he please, live in the proportion of fifty years in forty-let him rise early, that he may have the day before him, and let him make the most of the day, by determining to expend it on two sorts of acquaintance only-those by whom something may be got, and those from whom something maybe learned.

It is with disease of the mind, as with those of the body; we are half dead before we understand our disorder, and half cured when we do.

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them.

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.

Grant graciously what you cannot refuse safely and conciliate those you cannot conquer.

They that are loudest in their threats are the weakest in the execution of them. It is probable that he who is killed by lightning hears no noise; but the thunder-clap which follows, and which most alarms the ignorant, is the surest proof of their safety.

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