Mind not only what people say, but how they say it; and if you have any sagacity, you may discover more truth by your eyes than by your ears. People can say what they will, but they cannot look just as they will; and their looks frequently (reveal) what their words are calculated to conceal.

I am in the pitiable situation of feeling all the force of temptation without having the strength to succumb to it.

Judgment is not upon all occasions required, but discretion always is.

We are really so prejudiced by our educations, that, as the ancients deified their heroes, we deify their madmen.

Singularity is only pardonable in old age and retirement; I may now be as singular as I please, but you may not.

Next to clothes being fine, they should be well made, and worn easily; for a man is only the less genteel for a fine coat, if, in wearing it, he shows a regard for it, and is not as easy in it as if it was a plain one.

All I can say, in answer to this kind queries [of friends] is that I have not the distemper called the Plague; but that I have allthe plagues of old age, and of a shattered carcase.