Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost…

To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.

Wit and good nature meeting in a fair young lady as they do in you make the best resemblance of an angel that we know; and he that is blessed with the conversation and friendship of a person so extraordinary enjoys all that remains of …

But there is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression.

The good King of France desires only that you would take his word and let him be quiet till he has got the West Indies into his hands and his grandson well established in Spain, and then you may be sure you shall be as safe as he will let …

The three great things that govern mankind are reason, passion and superstition. The first governs a few, the two last share the bulk of mankind and possess them in their turns. But superstition most powerfully produces the greatest …

Bred a scholar he made his learning subservient only to the cause of truth.