The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, good sense, and good breeding.
I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words, but here is the sense of it: 'What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.'
Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.
Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.
True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.
Animals, in their generation, are wiser than the sons of men; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass.
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.
That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?
A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.
Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved.
Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor.
He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.
Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.
Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in their proper figures.
If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. He has a heart capable of mirth, and naturally disposed to it.
Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion.
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.