Exploding many things under the name of trifles is a very false proof either of wisdom or magnanimity, and a great check to virtuous actions with regard to fame.

Under the rose, since here are none but friends, To own the truth we have some private ends.

Flattery is the worst and falsest way of showing our esteem.

Whatever the poets pretend, it is plain they give immortality to none but themselves; it is Homer and Virgil we reverence and admire, not Achilles or Aeneas. With historians it is quite the contrary; our thoughts are taken up with the actions, persons, and events we read, and we little regard the authors.

I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or deny only where we are certain; and beyond our knowledge we cannot do either.

Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions.

It may pass for a maxim in State, that the administration cannot be placed in too few hands, nor the legislature in too many.