laid it down as a maxim "that all inquiry should begin with
doubt." Whenever, then, we meet with mysteries beyond our feeble
comprehension, would it not be more rational to doubt the very faculty
we are employing--the capacity of our reason itself.

The most politic, because the most effectual way of governing in a
family, is for the husband occasionally to lay aside his supremacy; so
in public, as well as private life, that king will be most popular who
does not at all times exercise his full prerogative.

It would appear that there is a great sympathy between the mind of man
and falsehood: when we have a truth to tell, it takes better, if
conveyed in a fable; and the rage for novels shows, that we may not only
divert extremely without a syllable of truth, but truth is even
compelled to borrow the habit of falsehood to secure itself an agreeable
reception.

In our intercourse with others, we should endeavour to turn the
conversation towards those subjects with which our companions are
professionally acquainted: thus we shall agreeably please as well as
innocently flatter in affording them the opportunity to shine; while we
should acquire that knowledge which we could no where else obtain so
well.

What an extraordinary method of reducing oneself to beggary is gambling!
The man who has but little money in the world, and knows not how to
procure more without risking his life and character, must needs put it
in the power of fortune to take away what he has. Put the case in the
opposite light, it is just as absurd: the man who has money to spare,
must needs make the experiment whether it may not become the property of
another.

It is a mistake to suppose a great mind inattentive to trifles: its
capacity and comprehension enable it to embrace every thing.

The failing of vanity extends throughout all classes: the poor have but
little time to bestow on their persons, and yet in the selection of
their clothes we find they prefer such as are of a flaring and gaudy
colour.

Philosophy has not so much enabled men to overcome their weaknesses, as
it has taught the art of concealing them from the world.

That a little learning is dangerous is one of our surest maxims. If
knowledge does not produce the effect of ameliorating our imperfect
condition, it were, without question, better let alone altogether; it is
not to be made merely an appendix to the mind, but must be incorporated
and identified with it.

They who have