A man by tumbling his thoughts, and forming them into expressions, gives them a new fermentation, which works them into a finer body.

There are few things reason can discover with so much certainty and ease as its own insufficiency.

Thoughts take up no room. When they are right, they afford a portable pleasure, which one may travel with, without any trouble or encumbrance.

Envy, like a cold prison, benumbs and stupefies; and, conscious of its own impotence, folds its arms in despair.

A man may as well expect to grow stronger by always eating as wiser by always reading.

Truth is the band of union and the basis of human happiness. Without this virtue there is no reliance upon language, no confidence in friendship, no security in promises and oaths.

Confidence, as opposed, to modesty and distinguished from decent assurance, proceeds from self-opinion, and is occasioned by ignorance and flattery.