A young man ought to cross his own rules, to awake his vigor, and to keep it from growing faint and rusty. And there is no course of life so weak and sottish as that which is carried on by rule and discipline.

There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.

We ought to love temperance for itself, and in obedience to God who has commanded it and chastity; but what I am forced to by catarrhs, or owe to the stone, is neither chastity nor temperance.

Don't discuss yourself, for you are bound to lose; if you belittle yourself, you are believed; if you praise yourself, you are disbelieved.

I have gathered a posy of other men’s flowers and only the thread that bonds them is my own.

I do not understand; I pause; I examine.

The desire for riches is more sharpened by their use than by their need. Pleasing all: a mark that can never be aimed at or hit.