“True benevolence, or compassion, extends itself through the whole of existence and sympathises with the distress of every creature capable of sensation”

“Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.”

“Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds and glitters for a moment.”

“To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.”

“When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow;”

“What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.”

“Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth.”

“The important question is not, what will yield to man a few scattered pleasures, but what will render his life happy on the whole amount.”

“He who hesitates is lost.”

“I will indulge my sorrows, and give way to all the pangs and fury of despair.”

“An empty desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.”

“Quick sensitivity is inseperable from a ready understanding.”

“Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind.”

“If you wish success in life, make perseverance you bosom friend, experience your wise councellor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.”

“In doing what we ought we deserve no praise.”

“It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.”

“In doing what we ought we deserve no praise, because it is our duty.”

“A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer.”

“Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.”

“A man’s first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart.”

“Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.”

“Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.”

“Our real blessings often appear to us in the shape of pains, losses and disappointments; but let us have patience and we soon shall see them in proper figures.”

“True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise; it arises, in the first place, in the enjoyment of one's self, and, in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.”