“I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.”

The various opinions of philosophers have scattered through the world as many plagues of the mind as Pandora’s box did those of the body; only with this difference, that they have not left hope at the bottom.

We have enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.

The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of words; for whosoever is a master of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both.

There is no vice which mankind carries to such wild extremes as that of avarice.

Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.

Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.

I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.

We are so fond on one another because our ailments are the same.

There were many times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.

Everyone desires long life, not one old age.

Don’t set your wit against a child.

Many a truth is told in jest.

For to enter the palace of learning at the great gate requires an expense of time and forms, therefore men of much haste and little ceremony are content to get in by the back-door.

Perverseness is your whole defence.

Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own.

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.

Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick.

To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great.

Existence is not something which lets itself be thought of from a distance; it must invade you suddenly, master you, weigh heavily on your heart like a great motionless beast – or else there is nothing at all.

MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

Keep in mind that part of growing up is dealing with difficult issues, and the benefits can be great if you have the courage to ask for help. Human beings are not designed to go through life alone. No one has to bear the burden of tough times all by themselves.

MAN is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. One thinks himself the master of others, and still remains a greater slave than they.

The human race built most nobly when limitations were greatest.