All discourse of which others cannot partake is not only an irksome usurpation of the time devoted to pleasure and entertainment, but, what never fails to excite resentment, an insolent assertion of superiority, and a triumph over less enlightened understandings. The pedant is, therefore, not only heard with weariness but malignity; and those who conceive themselves insulted by his knowledge never fail to tell with acrimony how injudiciously it was exerted.

The wise man applauds he who he thinks most virtuous; the rest of the world applauds the wealthy.

He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.

I have adopted the Roman sentiment, that it is more honorable to save a citizen than to kill an enemy.

To get a name can happen but to few. A name, even in the most commercial nation, is one of the few things which cannot be bought . It is the free gift of mankind, which must be deserved before it will be granted, and is at last unwillingly bestowed.

The desires of man increase with his acquisitions.

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