True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

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

There is not, in my opinion, anything more mysterious in nature than this instinct in animals, which thus rise above reason, and yet fall infinitely short of it.

Pedantry in learning is like hypocrisy inn religion--a form of knowledge without the power of it.

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

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

Musick is certainly a very agreeable Entertainment, but if it would take the entire Possession of our Ears, if it would make us incapable of hearing Sense, if it would exclude Arts that have a much greater Tendency to the Refinement of human Nature; I must confess I would allow it no better Quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his Common-wealth.