Moral Essays

"But Satan now is wiser than of yore, And tempts by making rich, not making poor."

"Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And though no science, fairly worth the seven."

"Tis use alone that sanctifies expense, And splendor borrows all her rays from sense."

"To rest, the cushion and soft dean invite, Who never mentions hell to ears polite."

"Statesman, yet friend to truth! of soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honor clear; Who broke no promise, served no private end, Who gained no title, and who lost no friend."

"Who combats bravely is not therefore brave, He dreads a death-bed like the meanest slave: Who reasons wisely is not therefore wise,— His pride in reasoning, not in acting lies."

"'Tis from high life high characters are drawn; A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn."

"'Tis education forms the common mind: Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined."

"Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes, Tenets with books, and principles with times."

""Odious! in woollen! 't would a saint provoke", Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke."

"And you, brave Cobham! to the latest breath Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death."

"Nothing so true as what you once let fall, "Most women have no characters at all"."

"Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it, If folly grow romantic, I must paint it."

"Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute."

"Fine by defect, and delicately weak."

"Chaste to her husband, frank to all beside, A teeming mistress, but a barren bride."

"Wise wretch! with pleasures too refined to please; With too much spirit to be e'er at ease; With too much quickness ever to be taught; With too much thinking to have common thought. You purchase pain with all that joy can give, And die of nothing but a rage to live."

"Atossa, cursed with every granted prayer, Childless with all her children, wants an heir; To heirs unknown descends the unguarded store, Or wanders heaven-directed to the poor."

""With ev'ry pleasing, ev'ry prudent part, Say, what can Chloe want?" — She wants a heart."

"Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, Content to dwell in decencies forever."

"In men, we various ruling passions find; In women, two almost divide the kind; Those, only fixed, they first or last obey, The love of pleasure, and the love of sway."

"Men, some to business, some to pleasure take; But every woman is at heart a rake."

"See how the world its veterans rewards! A youth of frolics, an old age of cards."

"Oh, blest with temper whose unclouded ray Can make to-morrow cheerful as to-day!"

"She who ne'er answers till a husband cools, Or, if she rules him, never shows she rules; Charms by accepting, by submitting, sways, Yet has her humor most, when she obeys."

"And mistress of herself though china fall."

"And yet, believe me, good as well as ill, Woman's at best a contradiction still."

"Who shall decide when doctors disagree, And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?"

"Blest paper-credit! last and best supply! That lends corruption lighter wings to fly."

"P. What riches give us let us then inquire: Meat, fire, and clothes. B. What more? P. Meat, fine clothes, and fire."

"But thousands die, without this or that, Die, and endow a college, or a cat."

"The ruling passion, be it what it will, The ruling passion conquers reason still."

"Extremes in Nature equal good produce; Extremes in man concur to general use."

"Rise, honest muse! and sing The Man of Ross."

"Ye little stars! hide your diminish'd rays."

"Who builds a church to God and not to fame, Will never mark the marble with his name."

"In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung."

"The fate of all extremes is such, Men may read, as well as books, too much. To observations which ourselves we make, We grow more partial for th' observer's sake."

"Where London's column, pointing at the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies."

"That each from other differs, first confess; Next, that he varies from himself no less."

"Like following life through creatures you dissect, You lose it in the moment you detect."

"In vain sedate reflections we would make When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take."

"Not always actions show the man: we find Who does a kindness is not therefore kind."