A patriot is he whose public conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment, but refers every thing to the common interest.
How can children credit the assertions of parents, which their own eyes show them to be false? Few parents act in such a manner as much to enforce their maxims by the credit of their lives.
A vow is a snare for sin.
A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.
The friendship which is to be practised or expected by common mortals, must take its rise from mutual pleasure, and must end when the power ceases of delighting each other.
I hope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian.
Nothing is difficult, when gain and honour unite their influence.
There is no temper more unpropitious to interest than desultory application and unlimited inquiry, by which the desires are held in a perpetual equipoise, and the mind fluctuates between different purposes without determination.
He to whom many objects of pursuit arise at the same time, will frequently hesitate between different desires till a rival has precluded him, or change his course as new attractions prevail, and harass himself without advancing.
The purpose of a writer is to be read, and the criticism which would destroy the power of pleasing must be blown aside.
Love has no great influences upon the sum of life.
There is always something a woman will prefer to the truth.
Every government is perpetually degenerating towards corruption, from which it must be rescued at certain periods by the resuscitation of its first principles, and the re-establishment of its original constitution.
An infallible characteristic of meanness is cruelty. Men who have practiced tortures on animals without pity, relating them without shame, how can they still hold their heads among human beings?
Nothing is more common than mutual dislike, where mutual approbation is particularly expected.
The liberty of using harmless pleasure will not be disputed; but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless.
The great source of pleasure is variety.
When the eye or the imagination is struck with an uncommon work, the next transition of an active mind is to the means by which it was performed.
Women have two weapons – cosmetics and tears.
Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach.