Fire and swords are slow engines of destruction, compared to the tongue of a Gossip.

I cannot think of any character below the flatterer, except he who envies him

A modest person seldom fails to gain the goodwill of those he converses with, because nobody envies a man who does not appear to be pleased with himself.

When a man is not disposed to hear music, there is not a more disagreeable sound in harmony than that of the violin.

The man is mechanically turned, and made for getting. . . . It was verily prettily said that we may learn the little value of fortune by the persons on whom Heaven is pleased to bestow it.

Since our persons are not of our own making, when they are such as appear defective or uncomely, it is, methinks, an honest and laudable fortitude to dare to be ugly.

Since we cannot promise our selves constant health, let us endeavour at such temper as may be our best support in the decay of it.