[T]he judicious reader ought to know what the chief character in any work of the imagination will naturally perform, according to the situation he is thrown into, as well as doth the author himself.

I fancied I had some constancy of mind because I could bear my own sufferings, but found through the sufferings of others I could be weakened like a child.

I was condemned to be beheaded, or burnt, as the king pleased; and he was graciously pleased, from the great remains of his love, to choose the mildest sentence.

But in all things whether we shall make only a due use of the liberties we have asked, is left entirely to the judicious reader to decide.

The words of kindness are more healing to a drooping heart than balm or honey.

I believe no gentleman would like to have his family affairs neglected because his wife was filling her head with crotchets and pothooks, and who, because she understood a few scraps of Latin, valued that more than minding her needle or providing her husband's dinner.

Their virtues lived in their children. The family changed its persons but not its manners, and they continued a blessing to the world from generation to generation.