friendship is a virtue which comprehends all the rest; none being fit for this, who is not adorned with every other virtue.

None of God's Creatures absolutely consider'd are in their own Nature Contemptible; the meanest Fly, the poorest Insect has its Use and Vertue.

Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundation of vice, and imitation and custom rear it up.

He who will be just, must be forc'd to acknowledge, that neither Sex are always in the right.

We ought as much as we can to endeavour the Perfecting of our Beings, and that we be as happy as possibly we may.

Although it has been said by men of more wit than wisdom, and perhaps more malice than either, that women are naturally incapable of acting prudently, or that they are necessarily determined to folly, I must by no means grant it.

Every one knows, that the mind will not be kept from contemplating what it loves in the midst of crowds and business. Hence come those frequent absences, so observable in conversation; for whilst the body is confined to present company, the mind is flown to that which it delights in.