Physical ills are the taxes laid upon this wretched life; some are taxed higher, and some lower, but all pay something.

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.

One should always think of what one is about; when one is learning, one should not think of play; and when one is at play, one should not think of learning.

Without any extraordinary effort of genius, I have discovered that nature was the same three thousand years ago as at present; that men were but men then as well as now; that modes and customs vary often, but that human nature is always the same. And I can no more suppose, that men were better, braver, or wiser, fifteen hundred or three thousand years ago, than I can suppose that the animals or vegetables were better than they are now.

Everything is worth seeing once, and the more one sees the less one either wonders or admires.

When a man is once in fashion, all he does is right.

When griefs are genuine, I find, there is nothing more vacuous, more burdensome, or even more impertinent, than letters of consolation.