It is however, reasonable, to have perfection in our eye; that we may always advance towards it, though we know it never can be reached.

One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich.

There is nothing against which an old man should be so much upon his guard as putting himself to nurse.

The equity of Providence has balanced peculiar sufferings with peculiar enjoyments.

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.

Affectation is to be always distinguished from hypocrisy as being the art of counterfeiting those qualities, which we might with innocence and safety, be known to want. Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy; affectation part of the chosen trappings of folly.

All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.