Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.

Great authors, when they write about causes, adduce not only those they think are true but also those they do not believe in, provided they have some originality and beauty. They speak truly and usefully enough if they speak ingeniously.

There is nothing so noble and so right as to play our human life well and fitly, nor anything so difficult to learn as how to livethis life well and according to Nature.

It is commonly seene by experience, that excellent memories do rather accompany weake judgements.

Men throw themselves on foreign assistances to spare their own, which, after all, are the only certain and sufficient ones.

My library is my kingdom, and here I try to make my rule absolute-shutting off this single nook from wife, daughter and society. Elsewhere I have only a verbal authority, and vague. Unhappy is the man, in my opinion, who has no spot at home where he can be at home to himself-to court himself and hide away.

Whether the events in our life are good or bad, greatly depends on the way we perceive them.