Jesting, Often, Only Proves A Want Of

It Is Necessary To The Success Of Flattery, That It Be Accommodated To Particular Circumstances Or Characters, And Enter The Heart On That Side Where The Passions Are Ready To Receive It.

It Is Certain That Success Naturally Confirms In Us A Favourable Opinion Of Our Own Abilities. Scarce Any Man Is Willing To Allot To Accident, Friendship, And A Thousand Causes, Which Concur In Every Event Without Human Contrivance Or Interposition, The Part Which They May Justly Claim In His Advancement. We Rate Ourselves By Our Fortune Rather Than Our Virtues, And Exorbitant Claims Are Quickly Produced By Imaginary Merit.

Whatever Is Formed For Long Duration Arrives Slowly To Its Maturity.

The Public Pleasures Of Far The Greater Part Of Mankind Are Counterfeit.

This Man [chesterfield], I Thought, Had Been A Lord Among Wits; But I Find He Is Only A Wit Among Lords.