You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. |
There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the fair sex. |
There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible. |
You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle. |
No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. |
It is better to live rich than to die rich. |
By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show. |
Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions. |
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are. |
Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid us of our time, which will never return. |
Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise. |
A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good. |
The world is seldom what it seems; to man, who dimly sees, realities appear as dreams, and dreams realities. |
Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. |
Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. |
Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement. |
He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts. |
The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. |
My dear friend, clear your mind of can't. |
There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten. |