He was doubtless an understanding Fellow that said, there was no happy Marriage but betwixt a blind Wife and a deaf Husband.

I must use these great men's virtues as a cloak for my weakness.

Virtue can have naught to do with ease. . . . It craves a steep and thorny path.

The births of all things are weak and tender and therefore we should have our eyes intent on beginnings.

Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being.

What a man hates, he takes seriously.

To how many blockheads of my time has a cold and taciturn demeanor procured the credit of prudence and capacity!