Some natures are so sour and ungrateful that they are never to be obliged.

Men talk as if they believed in God, but they live as if they thought there was none; their vows and promises are no more than words, of course.

A plodding diligence brings us sooner to our journey's end than a fluttering way of advancing by starts.

There is not one grain in the universe, either too much or too little, nothing to be added, nothing to be spared; nor so much as any one particle of it, that mankind may not be either the better or the worse for, according as it is applied.

The blessings of fortune are the lowest; the next are the bodily advantages of strength and health; but the superlative blessings, in fine, are those of the mind.

The lowest boor may laugh on being tickled, but a man must have intelligence to be amused by wit.

Imperfections would not be half so much taken notice of, if vanity did not make proclamation of them.