When misfortunes happen to such as dissent from us in matters of religion, we call them judgments; when to those of our own sect, we call them trials; when to persons neither way distinguished, we are content to attribute them to the settled course of things.

There are no persons more solicitous about the preservation of rank than those who have no rank at all. Observe the humors of a country christening, and you will find no court in Christendom so ceremonious as the quality of Brentford.

A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.

Virtues, like essences, lose their fragrance when exposed.

There is a certain flimsiness of poetry which seems expedient in a song.

Bashfulness is more frequently connected with good sense than we find assurance; and impudence, on the other hand, is often the mere effect of downright stupidity.

A large retinue upon a small income, like a large cascade upon a small stream, tends to discover its tenuity.