People seek within a short span of life to satisfy a thousand desires, each of which is insatiable.

Philosophy can add to our happiness in no other manner but by diminishing our misery; it should not pretend to increase our present stock, but make us economists of what we are possessed of. Happy were we all born philosophers; all born with a talent of thus dissipating our own cares by spreading them upon all mankind.

Taste is the power of relishing or rejecting whatever is offered for the entertainment of the imagination.

The soul may be compared to a field of battle, where the armies are ready every moment to encounter. Not a single vice but has a more powerful opponent, and not one virtue but may be overborne by a combination of vices.

Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity.

The way to acquire lasting esteem is not by the fewness of a writer's faults, but the greatness of his beauties, and our noblest works are generally most replete with both.

Modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with nobler virtues.