Instead of rating the man by his performances, we rate too frequently the performances by the man.

Towering is the confidence of twenty-one.

I believe it will be found that those who marry late are best pleased with their children; and those who marry early, with their partners.

Cunning has effect from the credulity of others, rather than from the abilities of those who are cunning. It requires no extraordinary talents to lie and deceive.

But the distant hope of being one day useful or eminent ought not to mislead us too far from that study which is equally requisite to the great and mean, to the celebrated and obscure; the art of moderating the desires, of repressing the appetites; and of conciliating or retaining the favour of mankind.

A family ... is a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed to revolutions.

There must always be a struggle between a father and son, while one aims at power and the other at independence.