An epithet or metaphor drawn from nature ennobles art; an epithet or metaphor drawn from art degrades nature.

There are charms made only for distant admiration.

Such is the state of every age, every sex, and every condition: all have their cares, either from nature or from folly; and whoever, therefore, finds himself inclined to envy another, should remember that he knows not the real condition which he desires to obtain, but is certain that by indulging a vicious passion, he must lessen that happiness which he thinks already too sparingly bestowed.

Few things are so liberally bestowed, or squandered with so little effect, as good advice.

By forbearing to do what may innocently be done, we may add hourly new vigor to resolution.

Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and delight those unbodied spirits that survey the works of God and the actions of men; but it bestows no assistance upon earthly beings, and however free from taints of impurity, yet wants the sacred splendor of beneficence.

Every man's affairs, however little, are important to himself.