Riches, perhaps, do not so often produce crimes as incite accusers.

Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last; and perhaps always predominates in proportion to the strength of the contemplative faculties. He who easily comprehends all that is before him, and soon exhausts any single subject, is always eager for new inquiries; and in proportion as the intellectual eye takes in a wider prospect, it must be gratified with variety, by more rapid flights and bolder excursions.

Irresolution and mutability are often the faults of men whose views are wide, and whose imagination is vigorous and excursive.

There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.

People seldom read a book which is given to them; and few are given. The way to spread a work is to sell it at a low price. No man will send to buy a thing that costs even sixpence without an intention to read it.

We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.

An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay, And glides in modest innocence away.