For to enter the palace of learning at the great gate requires an expense of time and forms, therefore men of much haste and little ceremony are content to get in by the back-door

Undoubtedly, philosophers are in the right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.

Simplicity, without which no human performance can arrive at perfection.

It often happens that, if a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it.

I never knew any man cured of inattention.

The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.

The motives of the best actions will not bear too strict an inquiry. It is allowed that the cause of most actions, good or bad, may be resolved into the love of ourselves; but the self-love of some men inclines them to please others, and the self-love of others is wholly employed in pleasing themselves. This makes the great distinction between virtue and vice.