There is one sweet lenitive at least for evils, which nature holds out; so I took it kindly at her hands, and fell asleep.

There have been no sects in the Christian world, however absurd, which have not endeavoured to support their opinions by arguments drawn from Scripture.

The more tickets you have in a lottery, the worse your chance. And it is the same of virtues, in the lottery of life.

Keep away from the fire!

[I have] been in love with one princess or another almost all my life, and I hope I shall go on so, till I die, being firmly persuaded, that if ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.

The sad vicissitude of things.

To write a book is for all the world like humming a song—be but in tune with yourself, madam, 'tis no matter how high or how low you take it.