On Sir Joshua Reynolds's Observing That The

Except During The Nine Months Before He Draws His First Breath, No Man Manages His Affairs As Well As A Tree. We Are Inclined To Believe Those Whom We Do Not Know Because They Have Never Deceived Us.

Disappointment, When It Involves Neither Shame Nor Loss, Is As Good As Success; For It Supplies As Many Images To The Mind, And As Many Topics To The Tongue.

Irresolution And Mutability Are Often The Faults Of Men Whose Views Are Wide, And Whose Imagination Is Vigorous And Excursive.

No Man Can Perform So Little As Not To Have Reason To Congratulate Himself On His Merits, When He Beholds The Multitude That Live In Total Idleness, And Have Never Yet Endeavoured To Be Useful.

Admiration Begins Where Acquaintance Ceases