Pride and curiosity are the two scourges of our souls. The latter prompts us to poke our noses into everything, and the former forbids us to leave anything unresolved and undecided.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which is least known.
There never were two opinions alike in all the world no more than two hours or two grains: the most universal quality is diversity.
Once conform once do what others do because they do it and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.
There is no man so good who were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.
The great and glorious masterpiece of man is how to live with a purpose.
Greatness of soul consists not so much in soaring high and in pressing forward as in knowing how to adapt and limit oneself.
Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.
There is no passion so much transports thesincerity of judgement as doth anger
The most fruitful and natural exercise for our minds is, in my opinion, conversation.
Other people do not see you at all, but guess at you by uncertain conjectures.
No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.
Life itself is neither a good nor an evil: life is where good or evil find a place, depending on how you make it for them.
Can anything be imagined so ridiculous, that this miserable and wretched creature [man], who is not so much as master of himself, but subject to the injuries of all things, should call himself master...
It is the mind that maketh good or ill, That maketh wretch or happy, rich or poor.
The word is half his that speaks and half his that hears it.
I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.
The Ancient Mariner said to Neptune during a great storm 'O God you will save me if you wish but I am going to go on holding my tiller straight.'
There is no passion so much transports the sincerity of judgement as doth anger.
Without doubt, it is a delightful harmony when doing and saying go together.