It takes so much to be a king that he exists only as such. That extraneous glare that surrounds him hides him and conceals him from us; our sight breaks and is dissipated by it being filled and arrested by this strong light.

Who is only good that others may know it, and that he may be the better esteemed when 'tis known, who will do well but upon condition that his virtue may be known to men, is one from whom much service is not to be expected.

How often, being moved under a false cause, if the person offending makes a good defense and presents us with a just excuse, are we angry against truth and innocence itself?

I am myself the matter of my book.

As soon as women become ours we are no longer theirs.

A good marriage (if any there be) refuses the conditions of love and endeavors to present those of amity.

He that I am reading seems always to have the most force.