Were the superfluities of a nation valued, and made a perpetual tax or benevolence, there would be more alms-houses than poor, schools than scholars, and enough to spare for government besides.
If we are but sure the end is right, we are too apt to gallop over all bounds to compass it; not considering the lawful ends may be very unlawfully attained.
Silence is Wisdom where Speaking is Folly.
Choose thy clothes by thine own eyes, not another’s.
Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment is the treasurer of the one who is wise.
Where judgment has wit to express it, there’s the best orator.
Wit gives an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely.
The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else but the works of men. And the one makes a better subject for contemplation than the other.
Friendship is the next pleasure we may hope for: and where we find it not at home, or have no home to find it in, we may seek it abroad. It is an union of spirits, a marriage of hearts, and the bond thereof virtue.
Tis the glory of a man to vail to truth; as it is the mark of a good nature to be easily entreated.
The usefulest truths are the plainest.
They that censure, should practice. Or else let them have the first stone, and the last too.
We have a call to do good, as often as we have the power and occasion.
He that lives in love lives in God.
Never give out while there is hope; but hope not beyond reason, for that shows more desire than judgement.
Drunkenness, spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans the man.
We are apt to be very pert at censuring others, where we will not endure advice.
A man in business must put up many affronts if he loves his own quiet.
A man, like a watch, is to be valued for his manner of going.
Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. In this divine glass, they see face to face; and their converse is free as well as pure. This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal.
Tis admirable to consider, how Powerful the Kings are, yet they move by the Breath of their People.