We may so seize on virtue, that if we embrace it with an overgreedy and violent desire, it may become vicious.

I enjoy books as misers enjoy treasures, because I know I can enjoy them whenever I please.

To know how to live is my trade and my art.

It is very easy to accuse a government of imperfection, for all mortal things are full of it.

Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgment on him.

The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould

The receipts of cookery are swelled to a volume, but a good stomach excels them all; to which nothing contributes more than industry and temperance.