Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections of their author. To confer duration is not always in our power. We must snatch the present moment, and employ it well, without too much solicitude for the future, and content ourselves with reflecting that our part is performed. He that waits for an opportunity to do much at once, may breathe out his life in idle wishes, and regret, in the last hour, his useless intentions and barren zeal.

Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess.

Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say.

A married man has many cares, but a bachelor no pleasures.

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

Poetry cannot be translation

I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice.