People of great position are servants times three, servants of their country, servants of fame, and servants of business.
The best armor is to keep out of gunshot.
Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.
But men must know, that in this theatre of man’s life it is reserved only for God and angels to be lookers on.
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.
It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other.
Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased by tales, so is the other.
Our humanity is a poor thing, except for the divinity that stirs within us.
Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.
Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.
In charity there is no excess.
He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can’t fool the neighbors.
Truth is a naked and open daylight.
Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.
Fame is like a river, that beareth up things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and solid.
Speech of yourself ought to be seldom and well chosen.
For my name and memory I leave to men’s charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages.
The pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon.
Therefore if a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible.
By indignities men come to dignities.
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