When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Rain is good for vegetables, and for the animals who eat those vegetables, and for the animals who eat those animals.

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.

We may take Fancy for a companion, but must follow Reason as our guide.

Men seldom give pleasure when they are not pleased themselves.

Long customs are not easily broken: he that attempts to change the course of his own life very often labours in vain: and how shall we do that for others, which we are seldom able to do for ourselves?

Though the wisdom or virtue of one can very rarely make many happy, the folly or vice of one man often make many miserable.

If the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.