It is reported here that the King of Prussia has gone mad and has been locked up. There would be nothing bad about that: at leastthat might of his would no longer be a menace, and you could breathe freely for a while. I much prefer madmen who are locked up to those who are not.

It is commonly said that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humor, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.

Give nobly to indigent merit, and do not refuse your charity even to those who have not merit but their misery.

Swift speedy time, feathered with flying hours, Dissolves the beauty of the fairest brow.

Common sense (which, in truth, is very uncommon) is the best sense I know of: abide by it; it will counsel you best.

The most ignorant are the boldest conjecturers.

I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive.