Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, after having been for some time without it, on account of illness, I thought it better not to return to it. Every man is to judge for himself, according to the effects which he experiences.

Courtesy and good-humour are often found with little real worth.

I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works.

A man, doubtful of his dinner, or trembling at a creditor, is not much disposed to abstracted meditation, or remote enquiries.

There may be community of material possessions, but there can never be community of love or esteem.

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.

How small of all that human hearts endure/That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.