A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

The triumph of hope over experience.

I do not much wish well to discoveries, for I am always afraid they will end in conquest and robbery.

There is something in obstinacy which differs from every other passion. Whenever it fails, it never recovers, but either breaks like iron, or crumbles sulkily away, like a fractured arch. Most other passions have their periods of fatigue and rest, their sufferings and their cure; but obstinacy has no resource, and the first wound is mortal.

The man who feels himself ignorant should, at least, be modest.

Memory is like all other human powers, with which no man can be satisfied who measures them by what he can conceive, or by what he can desire.

It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.