Peaceable times are the best to live in, though not so proper to furnish materials for a writer.

A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.

I believe that everyone, some time or other, dreams that he is reading papers, books, or letters; in which case the invention prompts so readily that the mind is imposed upon, and mistakes its own suggestions for the composition of another.

It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with an habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, words, and actions at some laudable end.

Must one rash word, the infirmity of age, throw down the merit of my better years?

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

Who does not more admire Cicero as an author than as a consul of Rome?