As the greatest liar tells more truths than falsehoods, so may it be said of the worst man, that he does more good than evil.

If pleasure was not followed by pain, who would forbear it?

No cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance. He that imagines an assembly filled with his merit, panting with expectation, and hushed with attention, easily terrifies himself with the dread of disappointing them, and strains his imagination in pursuit of something that may vindicate the veracity of fame, and show that his reputation was not gained by chance.

It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise be added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to become a stranger.

What is good only because it pleases cannot be pronounced good till it has been found to please.

Rain is good for vegetables, and for the animals who eat those vegetables, and for the animals who eat those animals.

Cautious age suspects the flattering form, and only credits what experience tells.