Vain men delight in telling what Honours have been done them, what great Company they have kept, and the like; by which they plainly confess, that these Honours were more than their Due, and such as their Friends would not believe if they had not been told: Whereas a Man truly proud, thinks the greatest Honours below his Merit, and consequently scorns to boast. I therefore deliver it as a Maxim that whoever desires the Character of a proud Man, ought to conceal his Vanity.

Men of wit, learning and virtue might strike out every offensive or unbecoming passage from plays.

Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches as to conceive how others can be in want.

In all assemblies, though you wedge them ever so close, we may observe this peculiar property, that over their heads there is room enough; but how to reach it is the difficult point. To this end the philosopher's way in all ages has been by erecting certain edifices in the air.

Punning is a talent which no man affects to despise but he that is without it.

Complaint is the largest tribute heaven receives and the sincerest part of our devotion.

I never knew any man cured of inattention.