If love and ambition should be in equal balance, and come to jostle with equal force, I make no doubt but that the last would win the prize.

Thus we should beware of clinging to vulgar opinions, and judge things by reason's way, not by popular say.

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

Natural inclinations are assisted and reinforced by education, but they are hardly ever altered or overcome.

Wit is a dangerous weapon, even to the possessor, if he knows not how to use it discreetly.

We should be similarly wary of accepting common opinions; we should judge them by the ways of reason not by popular vote.

Painting myself for others, I have painted my inward self with colors clearer than my original ones. I have no more made my book than my book has made me--a book consubstantial with its author, concerned with my own self, an integral part of my life; not concerned with some third-hand, extraneous purpose, like all other books.