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

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

Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacence, if they discover none of the like in themselves.

What can be nobler than the idea it gives us of the Supreme Being?

There is a kind of grandeur and respect which the meanest and most insignificant part of mankind endeavor to procure in the little circle of their friends and acquaintance. The poorest mechanic, nay, the man who lives upon common alms, gets him his set of admirers, and delights in that superiority which he enjoys over those who are in some respects beneath him. This ambition, which is natural to the soul of man, might, methinks, receive a very happy turn; and, if it were rightly directed, contribute as much to a person's advantage, as it generally does to his uneasiness and disquiet.

An indiscreet man is more hurtful than an ill-natured one; for as the latter will only attack his enemies, and those he wishes ill to, the other injures indifferently both friends and foes.

There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.