I have sometimes thought that people are, in a sort, happy, that nothing can put out of countenance with themselves, though they neither have nor merit other people's.

If a civil word or two will render a man happy, he must be a wretch indeed who will not give them to him. Such a disposition is like lighting another man's candle by one's own, which loses none of its brilliancy by what the other gains.

Let us then try what Love will do: For if Men do once see we love them, we should soon find they would not harm us.

Experience is a safe guide.

True silence is the rest of the mind, and is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

The only fountain in the wilderness of life, where man drinks of water totally unmixed with bitterness, is that which gushes for him in the calm and shady recess of domestic life.