In proportion as our cares are employed upon the future, they are abstracted from the present, from the only time which we can call our own, and of which, if we neglect the apparent duties to make provision against visionary attacks, we shall certainly counteract our own purpose.

I have adopted the Roman sentiment, that it is more honorable to save a citizen than to kill an enemy.

Vanity is so frequently the apparent motive of advice, that we, for the most part, summon our powers to oppose it without any very accurate inquiry whether it is right.

To be flattered is grateful, even when we know that our praises are not believed by those who pronounce them; for they prove, at least, our power, and show that our favour is valued, since it is purchased by the meanness of falsehood.

The eye of the mind, like that of the body, can only extend its view to new objects, by losing sight of those which are now before it.

No one will persist long in helping someone who will not help themselves.

A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it.