"I have thought of a pulley to raise me gradually; but that would give me pain, as it would counteract my natural inclination. I would have something that can dissipate the inertia and give elasticity to the muscles. We can heat the body, we can cool it; we can give it tension or relaxation; and surely it is possible to bring it into a state in which rising from bed will not be a pain."

"The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning."

"What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure."

"A man ought to read just as his inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good."

"Books that you carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are most useful after all."

"Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both."

"Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid us of our time, which will never return."

"At seventy-seven it is time to be earnest."

"Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy"

"Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him."

"There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman."

"The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty."

"In the bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and bashfulness for confidence"

"Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable."

"Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him."

"The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity."

"When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away."

"To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the duties of friendship"

"Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God."

"To proceed from one truth to another, and connect distant propositions by regular consequences, is the great prerogative of man"

"The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence"

"I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read."

"The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered but a general effect of pleasing impression."

"There is nothing that exasperates people more than a display of superior ability or brilliance in conversation. They seem pleased at the time, but their envy makes them curse the conversationalist in their heart."

"By taking a second wife he pays the highest compliment to the first, by showing that she made him so happy as a married man, that he wishes to be so a second time."

"Hunger is never delicate; they who are seldom gorged to the full with praise may be safely fed with gross compliments, for the appetite must be satisfied before it is disgusted."

"Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions."

"Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some single pursuit, for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms."

"The present time is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies by recollection or anticipation."

"Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment."

"Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy."

"The two great movers of the human mind are the desire for good, and the fear of evil"

"Let him who desires to see others happy, make haste to give while his gift can be enjoyed, and remember that every moment of delay takes away something from the value of his benefaction"

"Idleness and timidity often despair without being overcome, and forbear attempts for fear of being defeated; and we may promote the invigoration of faint endeavors, by showing what has already been performed"

"Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present"

"Small debts are like small gun shot; they are rattling around us on all sides and one can scarcely escape being wounded. Large debts are like canons, they produce a loud noise, but are of little danger."

"I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man's virtues the means of deceiving him."

"If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance."

"I have always said, the first Whig was the Devil"

"We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting."

"He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts."

"Our aspirations are our possibilities."

"Beauty has often overpowered the resolutions of the firm, and the reasonings of the wise, roused the old to sensibility, and subdued the rigorous to softness"

"More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral."

"He who waits to do a great deal of good at once, will never do anything."

"You are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as the recompense of their labor, than when you give money merely in charity."

"There are charms made only for distance admiration."

"It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust."

"He that tries to recommend (Shakespeare) by select quotations, will succeed like the pedant in "Hierocles", who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen"

"Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings"