Deviation from Nature is deviation from happiness.

The number of such as live without the ardour of inquiry is very small, though many content themselves with cheap amusements, and waste their lives in researches of no importance.

There are some works which the authors must consign unpublished to posterity, however uncertain be the event, however hopeless be the trust. He that writes the history of his own times, if he adhere steadily to truth, will write that which his own times will not easily endure. He must be content to reposite his book till all private passions shall cease, and love and hatred give way to curiosity.

An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay, And glides in modest innocence away.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

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