it is more to my personal happiness and advantage to indulge the love and admiration of excellence, than to cherish a secret envy of it.

it is more to my personal happiness and advantage to indulge the love and admiration of excellence, than to cherish a secret envy of it.

I always wish to find great virtues where there are great talents, and to love what I admire.

I never invite idiots to my house.

I endeavor to be wise when I cannot be merry, easy when I cannot be glad, content with what cannot be mended, and patient when there be no redress.

It is very unreasonable of people to expect one should be at home, because one is in the house. Of all privileges, that of invisibility is the most valuable.

The muses crown virtue when fortune refuses to do it.