That favorite subject, Myself.

I am sensible that my keenness of temper, and a vanity to be distinguished for the day, make me too often splash in life.... I amresolved to restrain myself and attend more to decorum.

If a man who is born to a fortune cannot make himself easier and freer than those who are not, he gains nothing.

Writing a book I have found to be like building a house. A man forms a plan, and collects materials. He thinks he has enough to raise a large and stately edifice; but after he has arranged, compacted and polished, his work turns out to be a very small performance. The authour however like the builder, knows how much labour his work has cost him; and therefore estimates it at a higher rate than other people think it deserves

I am, I flatter myself, completely a citizen of the world. In my travels through Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Corsica, France, I never felt myself from home.

I, who have no sisters or brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those who may be said to be born to friends.

Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed.