Men universally are ungrateful towards him who instructs them, unless, in the hours or in the intervals of instruction, he presents a sweet-cake to their self-love.

The only effect of public punishment is to show the rabble how bravely it can be borne; and that every one who hath lost a toe-nail hath suffered worse.

The flame of anger, bright and brief, sharpens the barb of love.

In the morn of life we are alert, we are heated in its noon, and only in its decline do we repose.

A true philosopher is beyond the reach of fortune.

Every sect is a moral check on its neighbour. Competition is as wholesome in religion as in commerce.

Authors are like cattle going to a fair: those of the same field can never move on without butting one another.