Wounds and hardships provoke our courage, and when our fortunes are at the lowest, our wits and minds are commonly at the best.

The true science and study of mankind is man.

Riches should be admitted into our houses, but not into our hearts; we may take them into our possession, but not into our affections.

Pleasure and pain, though directly opposite are contrived to be constant companions.

It is certainly much easier wholly to decline a passion than to keep it within just bounds and measures; and that which few can moderate almost anybody may prevent.

Pleasure and pain, though directly opposite, are yet so contrived by nature as to be constant companions; and it is a fact that the same motions and muscles of the face are employed both in laughing and crying.

[Envy not for...] Whatever difference there may appear to be in men's fortunes, there is still a certain compensation of good and ill in all, that makes them equal.