We have an intuitive sense of our duty.

Pedantry is properly the over-rating of any kind of knowledge we pretend to.

The two maxims of any great man at court are, always to keep his countenance, and never to keep his word.

Brutes find out where their talents lie; A bear will not attempt to fly, A foundered horse will oft debate Before he tries a five barred gate. A dog by instinct turns aside Who sees the ditch too deep and wide, But man we find the only creature Who, led by folly, combats nature; Who, when she loudly cries-Forbear! With obstinacy fixes there; And where the genius least inclines, Absurdly bends his whole designs.

Do you think I was born in a wood to be afraid of an owl?

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.

It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues.