We seldom require more to the happiness of the present hour than to surpass him that stands next before us.

A man who both spends and saves money is the happiest man, because he has both enjoyments.

Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.

If, sir, men were all virtuous, I should with great alacrity teach them all to fly. But what would be the security of the good if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky? Against an army sailing through the clouds neither wall, nor mountains, nor seas could afford any security.

Trust as little as you can to report, and examine all you can by your own senses.

Prudence is an attitude that keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy.

Our minds, like our bodies, are in continual flux; something is hourly lost, and something acquired.... Do not suffer life to stagnate; it will grow muddy for want of motion: commit yourself again to the current of the world.