To neglect at any time preparation for death is to sleep on our post at a siege; to omit it in old age is to sleep at an attack.

The misery of man proceeds not from any single crush of overwhelming evil, but from small vexations continually repeated.

He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dulness in others.

Every man speaks and writes with intent to be understood; and it can seldom happen but he that understands himself might convey his notions to another, if, content to be understood, he did not seek to be admired.

Sorrow is the mere rust of the soul. Activity will cleanse and brighten it.

men do not suspect faults which they do not commit

The art of the writer, like that of the player, is attained by slow degrees. The power of distinguishing and discriminating comick characters, or of filling tragedy with poetical images, must be the gift of nature, which no instruction nor labour can supply; but the art of dramatick disposition, the contexture of the scenes, the involution of the plot, the expedients of suspension, and the strategems of surprise, are to be learned by practice.