To a people warlike and indigent, an incursion into a rich country is never hurtful.

Many of our miseries are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the presence of any real evil, but by the absence of some fictitious good; of something which is not required by any real want of nature, which has not in itself any power of gratification, and which neither reason nor fancy would have prompted us to wish, did we not see it in the possession of others.

If we will have the kindness of others, we must endure their follies.

Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.

Lichfield, England. Swallows certainly sleep all winter. A number of them conglobulate together, by flying round and round, and then all in a heap throw themselves under water, and lye in the bed of a river.

Levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.