Judgement holds in me a magisterial seat, at least it carefully tries to. It lets my feelings go their way, both hatred and friendship, even the friendship I bear myself, without being changed and corrupted by them.

The oldest and best known evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and untried.

Those who give the first shock to a state are the first overwhelmed in its ruin; the fruits of public commotion are seldom enjoyed by him who was the first mover; he only beats the water for another's net.

No man divulges his revenue, or at least which way it comes in: but every one publishes his acquisitions.

Meditation is a rich and powerful method of study for anyone who knows how to examine his mind.

Let us a little permit nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.

Beauty is the true prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that our sex, though naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never in its lustre but when puerile and beardless, confused and mixed with theirs.