A small country town is not the place in which one would choose to quarrel with a wife; every human being in such places is a spy.

Let us take a patriot, where we can meet him; and, that we may not flatter ourselves by false appearances, distinguish those marks which are certain, from those which may deceive; for a man may have the external appearance of a patriot, without the constituent qualities; as false coins have often lustre, though they want weight.

In all pleasures hope is a considerable part.

Health is so necessary to all the duties, as well as pleasures of life, that the crime of squandering it is equal to the folly.

...a man estimable for his learning, amiable for his life, and venerable for his piety. Arbuthnot was a man of great comprehension, skilful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature, and able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination; a scholar with great brilliance of wit; a wit who, in the crowd of life, retained and discovered a noble ardour of religious zeal.

No one ever became great by imitation.

There is a frightful interval between the seed and the timber.