In short, no association or alliance can be happy or stable without me. People can't long tolerate a ruler, nor can a master his servant, a maid her mistress, a teacher his pupil, a friend his friend nor a wife her husband, a landlord his tenant, a soldier his comrade nor a party-goer his companion, unless they sometimes have illusions about each other, make use of flattery, and have the sense to turn a blind eye and sweeten life for themselves with the honey of folly.

The chief element of happiness is this: to want to be what you are.

Don't give your advice before you are called upon.

It seems to me to be the best proof of an evangelical disposition, that persons are not angry when reproached, and have a Christian charity for those that ill deserve it.

They may attack me with an army of six hundred syllogisms; and if I do not recant, they will proclaim me a heretic.

The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth

God has administered to us of the present age, a bitter draught and a harsh physician, on account of our abounding infirmities.