Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.

Towering is the confidence of twenty-one.

None of the projects or designs which exercise the mind of man are equally subject to obstructions and disappointments with the pursuit of fame.

Of many, imagined blessings it may be doubted whether he that wants or possesses them had more reason to be satisfied with his lot.

In a man's letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is shown undisguised in its natural process. Nothing is inverted, nothing distorted, you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives.

You despise a man for avarice; but you do not hate him.

All unnecessary vows are folly, because they suppose a prescience of the future, which has not been given us.