A minute analysis of life at once destroys that splendor which dazzles the imagination. Whatsoever grandeur can display, or luxury enjoy, is procured by offices of which the mind shrinks from the contemplation. All the delicacies of the table may be traced back to the shambles and the dunghill; all magnificence of building was hewn from the quarry, and all the pomp of ornament dug from among the damps and darkness of the mine.

I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

I would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits

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

Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.

Self-love is often rather arrogant than blind; it does not hide our faults from ourselves, but persuades us that they escape the notice of others.

To dread no eye and to suspect no tongue is the great prerogative of innocence--an exemption granted only to invariable virtue.