The maxim of Cleobulus, "Mediocrity is best," has been long considered a universal principle, extending through the whole compass of life and nature. The experience of every age seems to have given it new confirmation, and to show that nothing, however specious or alluring, is pursued with propriety or enjoyed with safety beyond certain limits.

The finest landscape in the world is improved by a good inn in the foreground.

The hour of reformation is always delayed; every delay gives vice another opportunity of fortifying itself by habit.

Most men think indistinctly, and therefore cannot speak with exactness . . .

A thousand years may elapse before there shall appear another man with a power of versification equal to that of Pope.

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.

Moderation is commonly firm, and firmness is commonly successful.