My father had a small Estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the Third of five Sons.

T is as cheap sitting as standing.

And surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.

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.

Fine words! I wonder where you stole them.

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.

Everyone desires long life, not one old age.