No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.

Sorrow is the mere rust of the soul. Activity will cleanse and brighten it.

Each person's work is always a portrait of himself.

Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.

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

Where necessity ends, desire and curiosity begin; and no sooner are we supplied with everything nature can demand than we sit down to contrive artificial appetites.

No one is much pleased with a companion who does not increase, in some respect, their fondness for themselves.