The mind is never more highly gratified than in contemplating a natural landscape.

Death, whether it regards ourselves or others, appears less terrible in war than at home. The cries of women and children, friends in anguish, a dark room, dim tapers, priests and physicians, are what affect us the most on the death-bed. Behold us already more than half dead and buried.

Men are guided less by conscience than by glory; and yet the shortest way to glory is to be guided by conscience.

Such is the power of imagination, that even a chimerical pleasure in expectation affects us more than a solid pleasure in possession.

We part more easily with what we possess, than with our expectations of what we wish for; because expectation always goes beyond enjoyment.

Beauty is a dangerous property, tending to corrupt the mind of the wife, though it soon loses its influence over the husband. A figure agreeable and engaging, which inspires affection, without the ebriety of love, is a much safer choice.

The coward reckons himself cautious, the miser frugal.