It were happy if we studied Nature more in natural things; and acted according to Nature; whose rules are few, plain and most reasonable.

Content not thyself that thou art virtuous in the general: for one link being wanting, the chain is defective.

Love labour: for if thou dost not want it for food, thou mayest for physique. It is wholesome for the body, and good for the mind. It prevents the fruits of idleness, which many times come of nothing to do, and leads many to do what is worse than nothing.

Nothing does Reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it. For truth often suffers more by the Heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.

Oppression makes a poor country.

If Man be the Index or Epitomy of the World, as Philosophers tell us, we have only to read our selves well to be learned in it.

If love be not thy chiefest motive, thou wilt soon grow weary of a married state, and stray from thy promise, to search out thy pleasures in forbidden places.

Passion is a sort of fever in the mind, which ever leaves us weaker than it found us.... It more than anything deprives us of the use of our judgment; for it raises a dust very hard to see through. Like wine, whose lees fly by being jogg'd, it is too muddy to drink.

If we would amend the world, we should mend our selves; and teach our children to be, not what we are, but what they should be.

Choose a friend as thou dost a wife, 'till Death separate you.

It is wise not to seek a secret, and honest not to reveal one.

It is a cruel folly to offer up to ostentation so many lives of creatures, as make up the state of our treats; as it is a prodigal one to spend more in sauce than in meat.

The country life is to be preferr'd; for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else but the works of men.

It is too frequent to begin with God and end with the World. But He is the good man's Beginning and End; his Alpha and Omega.

Only trust thy self and another shall not betray thee.

To delay justice is injustice.

Where judgment has wit to express it, there's the best orator.

Despise no body, nor no condition; lest it come to be thine own.

All excess is ill, but drunkenness is of the worst sort. It spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans men. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impudent, dangerous and mad. In fine, he that is drunk is not a man: because he is so long void of Reason, that distinguishes a Man from a Beast.

Never give out while there is hope; but hope not beyond reason, for that shows more desire than judgment.

If thou thinkest twice, before thou speakest once, thou wilt speak twice the better for it.

Dislike what deserves it, but never hate: for that is of the nature of malice; which is almost ever to persons, not things, and is one of the blackest qualities sin begets in the soul.

Cunning to wise, is as an Ape to a Man.

Haste makes work which caution prevents.

For disappointments, that come not by our own folly, they are the trials or corrections of Heaven: and it is our own fault, if they prove not our advantage.

He that espouses parties, can hardly divorce himself from their fate; and more fall with their party than rise with it.

Choose thy clothes by thine own eyes, not another's.

Experience is a safe guide.

'Tis no sin to be tempted, but to be overcome.

Nothing shows our weakness more than to be so sharp-sighted at spying other men's faults, and so purblind about our own.

There is a troublesome humor some men have, that if they may not lead, they will not follow; but had rather a thing were never done, than not done their own way, tho' other ways very desirable.

The usefulest truths are the plainest.

If thou would'st be happy, bring thy mind to thy condition, and have an indifference for more than what is sufficient.

Nor must we always be neutral where our neighbors are concerned: for tho' meddling is a fault, helping is a duty.

Not to be provok'd is best: But if mov'd, never correct till the fume is spent; for every stroke our fury strikes, is sure to hit our selves at last.

In all debates, let Truth be thy aim, not Victory.

To be virtuous is to overcome our evil inclinations. If thou hast not conquer'd thyself in that which is thy own particular weakness, thou hast no title to virtue, tho' thou art free of other men's.

Justice is justly represented blind, because she sees no difference in the parties concerned. She has but one scale and weight, for rich and poor, great and small.

Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.

Friends are true twins in soul.

Knowledge is the treasure, but judgment the treasurer of a wise man. He that has more knowledge than judgment, is made for another man's use more than his own.

No man is compelled to evil; his consent only makes it his.

They that censure, should practice. Or else let them have the first stone, and the last too.

Never marry but for love; but see that thou lov'st what is lovely.

To be dexterous in danger is a virtue; but to court danger to show it, is weakness.

They have a right to censure, that have a heart to help.

Let the people think they govern, and they will be govern'd.

But in marriage do thou be wise; prefer the Person before Money, Virtue before Beauty, the Mind before the Body: Then thou hast a Wife, a Friend, a Companion, a Second Self; one that bears an equal Share with thee in all thy toils and troubles.

Lend not beyond thy ability, nor refuse to lend out of thy ability; especially when it will help others more than it can hurt thee.

Love grows, lust wastes by enjoyment.

The more merciful acts thou dost, the more mercy thou wilt receive.

Wit gives an edge to sense, and recommends it extremely.