As a madman is apt to think himself grown suddenly great, so he that grows suddenly great is apt to borrow a little from the madman.

Politeness is fictitious benevolence.

No man was ever great by imitation.

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.

Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.

Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects and effects, a defect of which we become more sensible by every attempt to supply it. Vulgar and inactive minds confound familiarity with knowledge and conceive themselves informed of the whole nature of things when they are shown their form or told their use; but the speculatist, who is not content with superficial views, harasses himself with fruitless curiosity, and still, as he inquires more, perceives only that he knows less.

Wasting a fortune is evaporation by a thousand imperceptible means.