Levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.

In civilized society we all depend upon each other, and our happiness is very much owing to the good opinion of mankind.

There are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by

There must always be a struggle between a father and son, while one aims at power and the other at independence.

Grief is a species of idleness.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates.

He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.

In all pointed sentences, some degree of accuracy must be sacrificed to conciseness.

Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

Whoever rises above those who once pleased themselves with equality, will have many malevolent gazers at his eminence.