Pray steal me not, I'm Mrs. Dingley's, Whose heart in this four-footed thing lies.

What vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken me, although I am not so old in proportion to them as I formerly was: which I can prove by arithmetic, for then I was double their age, which now I am not. Letter to Alexander Pope. 7 Feb. 1736.

I will venture to affirm, that the three seasons wherein our corn has miscarried did no more contribute to our present misery, than one spoonful of water thrown upon a rat already drowned would contribute to his death; and that the present plentiful harvest, although it should be followed by a dozen ensuing, would no more restore us, than it would the rat aforesaid to put him near the fire, which might indeed warm his fur-coat, but never bring him back to life.

Brutes find out where their talents lie; a bear will not attempt to fly.

Vanity is a mark of humility rather than of pride.

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

Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.