Be not affronted at a joke. If one throw salt at thee, thou wilt receive no harm, unless thou art raw.

Politics resemble religion; attempting to divest either of ceremony is the most certain mode of bringing either into contempt.

Friendship is a disinterested commerce between equals; love, an abject intercourse between tyrants and slaves.

I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing.

To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and convenience of our lives.

Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, and fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.

There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosopher. Fontenelle says he would undertake to persuade the whole public of readers to believe that the sun was neither the cause of light or heat, if he could only get six philosophers on his side.