What would you do if you knew for sure that no one would ever find out?
Commerce flourishes by circumstances, precarious, transitory, contingent, almost as the winds and waves that bring it to our shores.
Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.
Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.
The more gross the fraud the more glibly will it go down, and the more greedily be swallowed, since folly will always find faith where impostors will find imprudence.
Hope is a prodigal young heir, and experience is his banker.
Women that are the least bashful are often the most modest.
There is nothing more imprudent than excessive prudence.
Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase.
Temperate men drink the most, because they drink the longest.
Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live.
Is there anything more tedious than the often repeated tales of the old and forgetful?
It is not every man that can afford to wear a shabby coat.
We know the effects of many things, but the cause of few; experience, therefore, is a surer guide than imagination, and inquiry than conjecture.
To cure us of our immoderate love of gain, we should seriously consider how many goods there are that money will not purchase, and these the best; and how many evils there are that money will not remedy, and these the worst.
Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture.
Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.
There is a diabolical trio existing in the natural man, implacable, inextinguishable, co-operative and consentaneous, pride, envy, and hate; pride that makes us fancy we deserve all the goods that others possess; envy that some should be admired while we are overlooked; and hate, because all that is bestowed on others, diminishes the sum we think due to ourselves.
The reason why great men meet with so little pity or attachment in adversity, would seem to be this: the friends of a great man were made by his fortune, his enemies by himself, and revenge is a much more punctual paymaster than gratitude.
Theories are private property, but truth is common stock.
God is as great in minuteness as He is in magnitude.
There are three modes of bearing the ills of life; by indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual.
There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.
Strong as our passions are, they may be starved into submission, and conquered without being killed.
Most plagiarists, like the drone, have neither taste to select, industry to acquire, nor skill to improve, but impudently pilfer the honey ready prepared, from the hive.
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