We found in the course of our journey the convenience of having disencumbered ourselves, by laying aside whatever we could spare; for it is not to be imagined without experience, how in climbing crags and treading bogs, and winding through narrow and obstructed passages, a little bulk will hinder, and a little weight will burden; or how often a man that has pleased himself at home with his own resolution, will, in the hour of darkness and fatigue, be content to leave behind him everything but himself.

Celestial wisdom calms the mind.

When there is no hope, there can be no endeavor.

We consider ourselves as defective in memory, either because we remember less than we desire, or less than we suppose others to remember.

Merit rather enforces respect than attracts fondness.

Our minds, like our bodies, are in continual flux; something is hourly lost, and something acquired.... Do not suffer life to stagnate; it will grow muddy for want of motion: commit yourself again to the current of the world.

Life is a pill which none of us can bear to swallow without gilding.