The wisest man is generally he who thinks himself the least so.

Whate'er is well conceived is clearly said, And the words to say it flow with ease.

But satire, ever moral, ever new, Delights the reader and instructs him, too. She, if good sense refine her sterling page, Oft shakes some rooted folly of the age.

Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach; once we have left it, we can never return.

The greatest fools are oft the most satisfied.

A proud bigot, who is vain enough to think that he can deceive even God by affected zeal, and throwing the veil of holiness over vices, damns all mankind by the word of his power.

Though you be sprung in direct line from Hercules, if you show a lowborn meanness, that long succession of ancestors whom you disgrace are so many witnesses against you; and this grand display of their tarnished glory but serves to make your ignominy more evident.