Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.

Since every man is obliged to promote happiness and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to set too high a value upon things by which no real excellence is conferred.

When any calamity is suffered, the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped.

A married man has many cares, but a bachelor no pleasures.

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. It becomes cheap as it becomes vulgar, and will no longer raise expectation or animate enterprise.

A man is not obliged honestly to answer a question which should not properly be put.

The liberty of using harmless pleasure will not be disputed; but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless.