It Is Not Enough That

Habit Hath So Vast A Prevalence Over The Human Mind That There Is Scarce Anything Too Strange Or Too Strong To Be Asserted Of It. The Story Of The Miser Who, From Long Accustoming To Cheat Others, Came At Last To Cheat Himself, And With Great Delight And Triumph Picked His Own Pocket Of A Guinea To Convey To His Hoard, Is Not Impossible Or Improbable.

As It Often Happens That The Best Men Are But Little Known, And Consequently Cannot Extend The Usefulness Of Their Examples A Great Way, The Biographer Is Of Great Utility, As, By Communicating Such Valuable Patterns To The World, He May Perhaps Do A More Extensive Service To Mankind Than The Person Whose Life Originally Afforded The Pattern.

...the Act Of Eating,which Hath By Several Wise Men Been Considered As Extremely Mean And Derogatory From The Philosophic Dignity, Must Be In Some Measure Performed By The Greatest Prince, Hero, Or Philosopher Upon Earth; Nay, Sometimes Nature Hath Been So Frolicsome As To Exact Of These Dignified Characters A Much More Exorbitant Share Of This Office Than She Hath Obliged Those Of The Lowest Orders To Perform.

I Am Content; That Is A Blessing Greater Than Riches; And He To Whom That Is Given Need Ask No More.

We Should Not Be Too Hasty In Bestowing Either Our Praise Or Censure On Mankind, Since We Shall Often Find Such A Mixture Of Good And Evil In The Same Character, That It May Require A Very Accurate Judgment And A Very Elaborate Inquiry To Determine On Which Side The Balance Turns.