He to whom many objects of pursuit arise at the same time, will frequently hesitate between different desires till a rival has precluded him, or change his course as new attractions prevail, and harass himself without advancing.

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Every man is of importance to himself.

Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach.

Providence has fixed the limits of human enjoyment by immovable boundaries, and has set different gratifications at such a distance from each other, that no art or power can bring them together. This great law it is the business of every rational being to understand, that life may not pass away in an attempt to make contradictions consistent, to combine opposite qualities, and to unite things which the nature of their being must always keep asunder.

Pointed axioms and acute replies fly loose about the world, and are assigned successively to those whom it may be the fashion to celebrate.

The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England.