There is no being so poor and so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still poorer, and still more contemptible.

When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality.

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it.

The great source of pleasure is variety.

The main of life is composed of small incidents and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for disappointments of no fatal consequence.

The limbs will quiver and move after the soul is gone.