A pleasant comedy, which paints the manners of the age, and exposes a faithful picture of nature, is a durable work, and is transmitted to the latest posterity. But a system, whether physical or metaphysical, commonly owes its success to its novelty; and is no sooner canvassed with impartiality than its weakness is discovered.

The supposition that the future resembles the past, is not founded on arguments of any kind, but is derived entirely from habit.

The sceptics assert, though absurdly, that the origin of all religious worship was derived from the utility of inanimate objects,as the sun and moon, to the support and well-being of mankind.

Philosophy would render us entirely Pyrrhonian, were not nature too strong for it.

The more tremendous the divinity is represented, the more tame and submissive do men become his ministers: And the more unaccountable the measures of acceptance required by him, the more necessary does it become to abandon our natural reason, and yield to their ghostly guidance and direction.

When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken.

Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt, more properly than perceived.