Be so true to thyself, as thou be not false to others.

Neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can effect much. It is by instruments and helps that the work is done, which are as much wanted for the understanding as for the hand. And as the instruments of the hand either give motion or guide it, so the instruments of the mind supply either suggestions for the understanding or cautions.

Vices of the time; vices of the man.

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

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.

In civil business; what first? boldness; what second and third? boldness: and yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness.

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.