His virtues walked their narrow round, Nor made a pause, nor left a void; And sure the Eternal Master found The single talent well employed.
There may be other reasons for a man’s not speaking in publick than want of resolution: he may have nothing to say.
If the guardian or the mother Tell the woes of willful waste, Scorn their counsel and their pother, You can hang or drown at last.
It is incident to physicians, I am afraid, beyond all other men, to mistake subsequence for consequence.
A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge.
Few moments are more pleasing than those in which the mind is concerting measures for a new undertaking.
What I gained by being in France was learning to be better satisfied with my own country.
Surely, it is much easier to respect a man who has always had respect, than to respect a man who we know was last year no better than ourselves, and will be no better next year.
If lawyers were to undertake no causes till they were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined, it might be found a very just claim.
Every cold empirick, when his heart is expanded by a successful experiment, swells into a theorist.
Man is a transitory being, and his designs must partake of the imperfections their author.
Domestic discord is not inevitably and fatally necessary; but yet it is not easy to avoid.
Inquiries into the heart are not for man.
A newswriter is a man without virtue, who lies at home for his own profit.
Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness.
In Shakespeare’s plays, the mourner hastening to bury his friend is all the time colliding with the reveller hastening to his wine.
In discussing these exceptions from the course of nature, the first question is, whether the fact be justly stated. That which is strange is delightful, and a pleasing error is not willingly detected.
Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.
A person loves to review his own mind. That is the use of a diary, or journal.
We go from anticipation to anticipation, not from satisfaction to satisfaction.