He who does nothing renders himself incapable of doing any thing; but while we are executing any work, we are preparing and qualifying ourselves to undertake another.

To display the greatest powers, unless they are applied to great purposes, makes nothing for the character of greatness.

It is only those who never think at all, or else who have accustomed themselves to blood invariably on abstract ideas, that ever feel ennui.

Common sense, to most people, is nothing more than their own opinions.

We grow tired of everything but turning others into ridicule, and congratulating ourselves on their defects.

It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.

A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain, but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being.