Nobility should be elective, not hereditary.

A good name will wear out; a bad one may be turned; a nickname lasts forever.

When ill news comes too late to be serviceable to your neighbor, keep it to yourself.

In the sallies of badinage a polite fool shines; but in gravity he is as awkward as an elephant disporting.

Sloth is the torpidity of the mental faculties; the sluggard is a living insensible.

Egotism is more like an offense, than a crime; though it is allowable to speak of yourself, provided nothing is advanced in favor; but I cannot help suspecting that those who abuse themselves are, in reality, angling for approbation.

Truth lies in a small compass! The Aristotelians say, all truth is contained in Aristotle, in one place or another. Galileo makes Simplicius say so, but shows the absurdity of that speech by answering all truth is contained in a lesser compass, namely, in the alphabet.