It is generally better to deal by speech than by letter; and by the mediation of a third than by a man's self.

For better it is to make a beginning of that which may lead to something, than to engage in a perpetual struggle and pursuit in courses which have no exit.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.

Let not the sun go down upon your anger. Anger must be limited and confined, both in race and in time.

Wonder is the seed of knowledge.

The less people speak of their greatness, the more we think of it.

A man must make his opportunity, as oft as find it.

He that hath knowledge spareth his words.

Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.

As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time.

The mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.

Friendship increases in visiting friends, but in visiting them seldom.

God has placed no limits to the exercise of the intellect he has given us, on this side of the grave.

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Without friends the world is but a wilderness. There is no man that imparteth his joys to his friends, but he joyeth the more; and no man that imparteth his grieves to his friend, but he grieveth the less.

A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.