I have all my life been on my guard against the information conveyed by the sense of hearing -- it being one of my earliest observations, the universal inclination of humankind is to be led by the ears, and I am sometimes apt to imagine that they are given to men as they are to pitchers, purposely that they may be carried about by them.

Nobody should trust their virtue with necessity, the force of which is never known till it is felt, and it is therefore one of the first duties to avoid the temptation of it.

My chief study all my life has been to lighten misfortunes and multiply pleasures, as far as human nature can.

A face is too slight a foundation for happiness.

A woman, till five-and-thirty, is only looked upon as a raw girl, and can possibly make no noise in the world till about forty.

Solitude begets whimsies.

People wish their enemies dead - but I do not; I say give them the gout, give them the stone!