Everyone has a fair turn to be as great as he pleases.

Dependence goes somewhat against the grain of a generous mind; and it is no wonder that it should do so, considering the unreasonable advantage which is often taken of the inequality of fortune.

Books are a guide in youth, and an entertainment for age.

Self-conceit is a weighty quality, and will sometimes bring down the scale when there is nothing else in it. It magnifies a fault beyond proportion, and swells every omission into an outrage.

Prudence is a necessary ingredient in all the virtues, without which they degenerate into folly and excess.

Atheism is the result of ignorance and pride; of strong sense and feeble reasons; of good eating and ill-living. It is the plague of society, the corrupter of manners, and the underminer of property.

Learning gives us a fuller conviction of the imperfections of our nature; which one would think, might dispose us to modesty.