“Angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.”

“I know not why any one but a schoolboy in his declamation should whine over the Commonwealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another.”

“The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it.”

“Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.”

“Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others... This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”

“Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.”

“The pleasures of sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only repose on the stability of truth.”