If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.

Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt.

Mortifications are often more painful than real calamities.

Filial obedience is the first and greatest requisite of a state; by this we become good subjects to our emperors, capable of behaving with just subordination to our superiors, and grateful dependents on heaven; by this we become fonder of marriage, in order to be capable of exacting obedience from others in our turn; by this we become good magistrates, for early submission is the truest lesson to those who would learn to rule. By this the whole state may be said to resemble one family.

As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then, to be sure; but there's no love lost between us.

Every want that stimulates the breast becomes a source of pleasure when redressed.

It is impossible to combat enthusiasm with reason; for though it makes a show of resistance, it soon eludes the pressure, refers you to distinctions not to be understood, and feelings which it cannot explain. A man who would endeavor to fix an enthusiast by argument might as well attempt to spread quicksilver with his finger.