There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man is a continued chain of incidents, each link of which hangs upon the former. The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace. Evil may at some future period bring forth good; and good may bring forth evil, both equally unexpected.

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

Wine displays every little spot of the soul in its utmost deformity.

The man who lives by hope, will die by hunger.

There is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress.

We are apt to rely upon future prospects, and become really expensive while we are only rich in possibility. We live up to our expectations, not to our possessions, and make a figure proportionable to what we may be, not what we are.

If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.