A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.

Contempt is a kind of gangrene which, if it seizes one part of a character, corrupts all the rest by degrees.

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue.

Exactness is first obtained, and afterwards elegance. But diction, merely vocal, is always in its childhood. As no man leaves his eloquence behind him, the new generations have all to learn. There may possibly be books without a polished language, but there can be no polished language without books.

There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.

Curiosity is the thirst of the soul.