A Scotchman must be a very sturdy moralist who does not love Scotland better than truth.

It is certain that success naturally confirms in us a favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man is willing to allot to accident, friendship, and a thousand causes, which concur in every event without human contrivance or interposition, the part which they may justly claim in his advancement. We rate ourselves by our fortune rather than our virtues, and exorbitant claims are quickly produced by imaginary merit.

The advice that is wanted is commonly not welcome and that which is not wanted, evidently an effrontery.

Genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies and animates.

He that pursues fame with just claims, trusts his happiness to the winds; but he that endeavors after it by false merit, has to fear, not only the violence of the storm, but the leaks of his vessel.

No one is much pleased with a companion who does not increase, in some respect, their fondness for themselves.

All envy would be extinguished, if it were universally known that there are none to be envied.