The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.

The unassuming youth seeking instruction with humility gains good fortune.

Good nature will always supply the absence of beauty; but beauty cannot supply the absence of good nature.

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

The talent of turning men into ridicule, and exposing to laughter those one converses with, is the qualification of little ungenerous tempers.

There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.

The world is so full of ill-nature that I have lampoons sent me by people who cannot spell, and satires composed by those who scarce know how to write.