It is certain that success naturally confirms in us a favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man is willing to allot to accident, friendship, and a thousand causes, which concur in every event without human contrivance or interposition, the part which they may justly claim in his advancement. We rate ourselves by our fortune rather than our virtues, and exorbitant claims are quickly produced by imaginary merit.

Wine gives great pleasure; and every pleasure is of itself a good. It is a good, unless counterbalanced by evil.

It requires but little acquaintance with the heart to know that woman's first wish is to be handsome; and that, consequently, the readiest method of obtaining her kindness is to praise her beauty.

Pain and disease awaken us to convictions which are necessary to our moral condition.

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but, one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

Riches are of no value in themselves; their use is discovered only in that which they procure.

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.