Where ambition can cover its enterprises, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of passions.
Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.
He is happy whom circumstances suit his temper; but he Is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstance.
And what is the greatest number? Number one.
Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.
Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.
The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds.
Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.
Avarice, the spur of industry.
The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modeled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators. Even the lonely savage, who lies exposed to the inclemency of the elements and the fury of wild beasts, forgets not, for a moment, this grand object of his being.
Human happiness seems to consist in three ingredients; action, pleasure and indolence. And though these ingredients ought to be mixed in different proportions, according to the disposition of the person, yet no one ingredient can be entirely wanting without destroying in some measure the relish of the whole composition. composition.
It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.
It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom.
Among well bred people a mutual deference is affected, contempt for others is disguised; authority concealed; attention given to each in his turn; and an easy stream of conversation maintained without vehemence, without interruption, without eagerness for victory, and without any airs of superiority.
The law always limits every power it gives.
Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.