To be longing for this thing to-day and for that thing to-morrow; to change likings for loathings, and to stand wishing and hankering at a venture--how is it possible for any man to be at rest in this fluctuant, wandering humor and opinion?

The most insupportable of tyrants exclaim against the exercise of arbitrary power.

Riches are gotten with pain, kept with care, and lost with grief. The cares of riches lie heavier upon a good man than the inconveniences of an honest poverty.

It is one of the vexatious mortifications of a studious man to have his thoughts disordered by a tedious visit.

There is no creature so contemptible but by resolution may gain his point.

Figure-flingers and star-gazers pretend to foretell the fortunes of kingdoms, and have no foresight in what concerns themselves.

A body may well lay too little as too much stress upon a dream; but the less he heed them the better.