They that are fated to be fools, have one consolation, that they are fated also to be ignorant of it.

It is easier to hate those we love, than love those whom we have hated.

It is often better to be restricted to necessity than unconfined in the measure of our desires: prosperity destroys more individuals than adversity ruins.

Imprudent restrictions often force youth farther than enticement would carry them; and careless limitation is frequently worse than no injunction.

Few are more unhappy than those who have great ambition, but little energy to urge it into activity.

Every man professes a thorough knowledge of his own character and disposition; yet it is impossible for anyone to know himself perfectly: pride conceals much of our nature, and conceit intercepts the rules of inquiry.

Love is an artful arrangement of artless pretensions, whereby we labor to appear innocent in what we desire to be most cunning.

The standard of morals is as variable as morals themselves; of which every nation has a different code, and every custom a different reading.

The character of giving advice often makes us accountable for the conduct of those we advise.

True modesty conceals whatever is offensive to decency; false modesty, that which is disagreeable to fashion: the one is silent and natural, the other protrusive and impertinent.

Though we may not desire to detect fraud, we must not, on that account, endeavor to be insensible of it, for, as cunning is a crime, so is duplicity a fault, and if men dread knaves, they also despise fools.

It is very easy to discern flattery in most people, but to discern its motives, requires an uncommon depth of penetration.

Enjoyment inflames love in some men, and extinguishes it in others: the wind that assists large vessels, upsets small ones.

Pride, like cunning, is made offensive only by the manner in which it discovers itself.

We ought never to trust to chance but when we cannot find a better surety.

He is truly a happy man who can, upon all occasions, reconcile himself to his fortune.

In matter of fact, truth leaves a man at liberty to judge for himself, whilst falsehood, dreading the consequences of investigation, chooses to judge for him.

His advice is most esteemed in other men's matters, that is unerring in his own--example is the most forcible argument of precept.

Violent people usually express their love of a thing by their hatred of its opposite.

A proper disposition of time leaves a man at leisure in the very bustle of affairs; without delaying the attention of his concerns to the last or giving them unnecessary application at first: it affords a season for everything by affording everything its proper season.

In most moral determinations wherein self is umpire, justice is hoodwinked.

Cunning is a misplaced ambition of being perfect in others' deficiencies: it is the culture of low parts, and the proficiency of low minds.

The difficulty of repairing character tempts men sometimes to neglect it; and the ease with which it is at other times established, is the true reason of its frequent default.

Envy, like a false mirror, distorts the symmetry of the sweetest form.

Liberty, like health, appears most precious when lost.

There is a very prevalent tenet with youth, that good company is every thing desirable, and that bad is even better than none.

We are apt to measure the happiness or misery of the world by that portion of either which has fallen to our lot.

During misfortunes, nothing aggravates our condition more, than to be esteemed deserving of them.

If you cannot patiently bear correction, endeavor to avoid fault.

None seem to bear the imputation of supposed guilt with greater intolerance than such as are, on other occasions, obviously culpable of vice or crime.

We often suffer more from our fears, than from the dangers of our situation.

Some men mistake generosity for charity: these flatter themselves that they are giving gratuitously, whilst they are merely rewarding secret services offered their vanity.

The misapplication of our knowledge is, in general, more injurious to our happiness and interest, than either the privations of ignorance, or the disqualifications of inexperience.

The old are apt to mistake age for experience, and to imagine they are privileged to give good advice, though they may have lived only to afford bad example.

We are happy at the respect others pay our favorites, because we consider it a lively confirmation of our own choice, and as so much homage reflected on ourselves.

The first principle of solid wisdom is discretion, without it all the erudition of life is merely bagatelle.

If you desire praise or esteem, endeavor to merit it.

Most men appear wiser in their doubts than in their belief.

Men sometimes profess attachment to particular virtues, that they may be esteemed free of their opposite vices; and accuse others of what they themselves are guilty, that innocence may be conjectured from desire of justice.

We are never so liable to fall into an error, as when we have just escaped from one.

Many frequently change their principles, but seldom their practices.

Prudence never directs us to trifle with opportunity, nor to trust to chance what naturally belongs to method and arrangement.

Books are but pictures--the world is their original; to know the former well, we must necessarily have much acquaintance with the colors and shades of the latter.

All men are susceptible of flattery: its reception is neither precarious nor doubtful, when once the proper channel of communication is explored.

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