It hath been often said, that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible.

Good writers will, indeed, do well to imitate the ingenious traveller. . .who always proportions his stay in any place.

Though we may sometimes unintentionally bestow our beneficence on the unworthy, it does not take from the merit of the act. For charity doth not adopt the vices of its objects.

The constant desire of pleasing which is the peculiar quality of some, may be called the happiest of all desires in this that it rarely fails of attaining its end when not disgraced by affectation.

Contempt of others is the truest symptom of a base and bad heart,--while it suggests itself to the mean and the vile, and tickles there little fancy on every occasion, it never enters the great and good mind but on the strongest motives; nor is it then a welcome guest,--affording only an uneasy sensation, and bringing always with it a mixture of concern and compassion.

Scarcely one person in a thousand is capable of tasting the happiness of others.

Nothing more aggravates ill success than the near approach of good.