A very small offence may be a just cause for great resentment: it is often much less the particular instance which is obnoxious to us than the proof it carries with it of the general tenor and disposition of the mind from whence it sprung.

Respect is better procured by exacting than soliciting it.

There is an unfortunate disposition in a man to attend much more to the faults of his companions which offend him, than to their perfections which please him.

Our companions please us less from the charms we find in their conversation than from those they find in ours.

Good-humor will sometimes conquer ill-humor, but ill-humor will conquer it oftener; and for this plain reason, good-humor must operate on generosity, ill-humor on meanness.

Those men who are commended by everybody must be very extraordinary men; or, which is more probable, very inconsiderable men.

Whatever natural right men may have to freedom and independency, it is manifest that some men have a natural ascendency over others.