Let them show me a cottage where there are not the same vices of which they accuse the courts.

The heart never grows better by age; I fear rather worse, always harder. A young liar will be an old one, and a young knave will only be a greater knave as he grows older.

Young men are as apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are to think themselves sober enough. They look upon spirit to be a much better thing than experience; which they call coldness. They are but half mistaken; for though spirit without experience is dangerous, experience without spirit is languid and ineffective.

Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults.

The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it.

Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.

Gold and silver are but merchandise, as well as cloth or linen; and that nation that buys the least, and sells the most, must always have the most money.