States are great engines moving slowly.

Since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavor to obtain good customs.

The nature of things betrays itself more readily under the vexations of art than in its natural freedom.

Hope is the most beneficial of all the affections, and doth much to the prolongation of life.

Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercourse.

Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order.

Vain-glorious men are the scorn of the wise, the admiration of fools, the idols of paradise, and the slaves of their own vaunts.