"In this present that God has made us, there is nothing unworthy our care; we stand accountable for it even to a hair; and is it not a commission to man, to conduct man according to his condition; 'tis express, plain, and the very principal one, and the Creator has seriously and strictly prescribed it to us. Authority has power only to work in regard to matters of common judgment, and is of more weight in a foreign language; therefore let us again charge at it in this place"

"Plato says, "'Tis to no purpose for a sober man to knock at the door of the Muses;" and Aristotle says "that no excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of folly.""

"For a desperate disease a desperate cure."

"And not to serve for a table-talk."

"To which we may add this other Aristotelian consideration, that he who confers a benefit on any one loves him better than he is beloved by him again."

"The middle sort of historians (of which the most part are) spoil all; they will chew our meat for us."

"The only good histories are those that have been written by the persons themselves who commanded in the affairs whereof they write."

"She [virtue] requires a rough and stormy passage; she will have either outward difficulties to wrestle with, ... or internal difficulties."

"There is, nevertheless, a certain respect and a general duty of humanity that ties us, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants."

"Some impose upon the world that they believe that which they do not; others, more in number, make themselves believe that they believe, not being able to penetrate into what it is to believe."

"When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?"

"'T is one and the same Nature that rolls on her course, and whoever has sufficiently considered the present state of things might certainly conclude as to both the future and the past."

"The souls of emperors and cobblers are cast in the same mould…. The same reason that makes us wrangle with a neighbour causes a war betwixt princes."

"Man is certainly stark mad; he cannot make a worm, and yet he will be making gods by dozens."

"Why may not a goose say thus: "All the parts of the universe I have an interest in: the earth serves me to walk upon, the sun to light me; the stars have their influence upon me; I have such an advantage by the winds and such by the waters; there is nothing that yon heavenly roof looks upon so favourably as me. I am the darling of Nature! Is it not man that keeps and serves me?""

"Arts and sciences are not cast in a mould, but are formed and perfected by degrees, by often handling and polishing, as bears leisurely lick their cubs into form."

"He that I am reading seems always to have the most force."

"Apollo said that every one's true worship was that which he found in use in the place where he chanced to be."

"How many worthy men have we seen survive their own reputation!"

"The mariner of old said to Neptune in a great tempest, "O God! thou mayest save me if thou wilt, and if thou wilt thou mayest destroy me; but whether or no, I will steer my rudder true.""

"One may be humble out of pride."

"I find that the best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice."

"Saying is one thing, doing another."

"Is it not a noble farce, wherein kings, republics, and emperors have for so many ages played their parts, and to which the whole vast universe serves for a theatre?"

"Nature forms us for ourselves, not for others; to be, not to seem."

"There never was in the world two opinions alike, no more than two hairs or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity."

"The public weal requires that men should betray and lie and massacre."

"Like rowers, who advance backward."

"I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more as I grow older."

"Few men have been admired by their own domestics."

"It happens as with cages: the birds without despair to get in, and those within despair of getting out."

"And to bring in a new word by the head and shoulders, they leave out the old one."

"All the world knows me in my book, and my book in me."

"'T is so much to be a king, that he only is so by being so. The strange lustre that surrounds him conceals and shrouds him from us; our sight is there broken and dissipated, being stopped and filled by the prevailing light."

"We are born to inquire after truth; it belongs to a greater power to possess it. It is not, as Democritus said, hid in the bottom of the deeps, but rather elevated to an infinite height in the divine knowledge."

"I moreover affirm that our wisdom itself, and wisest consultations, for the most part commit themselves to the conduct of chance."

"What if he has borrowed the matter and spoiled the form, as it oft falls out?"

"The oldest and best known evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and untried."

"Not because Socrates said so,… I look upon all men as my compatriots."

"My appetite comes to me while eating."

"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."

"Saturninus said, "Comrades, you have lost a good captain to make him an ill general.""

"A little folly is desirable in him that will not be guilty of stupidity."

"Habit is a second nature."

"We seek and offer ourselves to be gulled."

"I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself."

"Men are most apt to believe what they least understand."

"I have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the thread that ties them together."

"Amongst so many borrowed things, I am glad if I can steal one, disguising and altering it for some new service."