Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another.
Admiration is a very short-lived passion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object.
Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.
The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.
Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.
Talking with a friend is nothing else but thinking aloud.
Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as there is none in which they are more ambitious to excel.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.
To a man of pleasure every moment appears to be lost, which partakes not of the vivacity of amusement.
It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.
The most violent appetites in all creatures are lust and hunger; the first is a perpetual call upon them to propagate their kind, the latter to preserve themselves.
Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of torrents, nor demolished by the force of armies.
To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.
To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.
Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness.
Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.
A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation.
Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!
Cheerfulness is the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the body.
If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.