idleness; when the company of his friends fail him, he finds a remedy in reading, or in composition.

He that is well employed in his study, though he may seem to do nothing, does the greatest things yet of all others: he lays down precepts for the governing of our lives, and the moderating of our passions; and obliges human nature, not only in the present, but in all succeeding generations.

He that follows his recreation instead of his business, shall in a little time have no business to follow.

None but a wise man can employ leisure well; and he that makes the best use of his time, has none to spare.

Employ your time well, if you mean to gain leisure; and, since you are not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour.

Leisure, is time for doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never; for a life of leisure, and a life of laziness, are two things.

Of all poverty, that of the mind is most deplorable.

If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again, and what we call time enough, always proves little enough.

Some men are exceedingly diligent in acquiring a vast compass of learning; some in aspiring to honours and preferments; some in heaping up riches; others are intent upon pleasures and diversions; hunting, or play, vain contrivances, to pass away their time: others are taken up in useless speculations; others set up for men of business, and spend all their days in hurry and noise but amid this variety, few apply themselves to the wisdom, which should direct their lives.

There is a vast difference between the dull person that is really so, and the thinking person that seems so though both are not good company for others, yet the latter is excellent company to himself.

Solitude relieves us when we are sick of company; and conversation when we are weary of being alone.

As too long a retirement weakens the mind, so too much company dissipates it.

By reading we enjoy the dead, by conversation, the living, and by contemplation, ourselves: reading enriches the memory, conversation polishes the wit, and contemplation improves the judgment of these, reading is the most important, as it furnishes both the others.

In solitude, if we escape the example of bad men, we likewise want the counsel and conversation of the good.

True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noise: it arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self; and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

He who sets up for forgiving all injuries, will have nothing else to do. He who appears to be weak, will be often imposed on. And he who pretends to extraordinary shrewdness, invites deceivers to try their talent upon him. Therefore a little spirit, as well as sagacity, is necessary to be upon even terms with the world.

It is very difficult to interfere in other people's quarrels, or concerns of any kind, without suffering from it one way or the other. The wisest men are always the most cautious of such interpositions, well knowing how little good is to be done, and what a risk one runs. Even when advice is asked, it is very often without any intention of following it. And the only consequence of giving one's sentiments freely, is disobliging.

There is hardly an employment in life so mean, that will not afford a subsistence if constantly applied to. And it is only by dint of indefatigable diligence, that a fortune is to be got in business. An estate got by what is commonly called a lucky hit, is a rare instance; and he who expects to have his fortune made in that way, is much about as rational as he, who should neglect all probable means of living, on the hopes that he should some time or other find a treasure. The misfortune of indolence is, That there is no such thing as continuing in the same condition without an income of one kind or other. If a man does not bestir himself, poverty must overtake him at last. If he continues to give out for the necessary charges of life and will not take pains to gain somewhat to supply his out-givings, his funds must at length

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come to an end, and misery come upon him at a period of life, when he is least able to grapple with it, I mean in old age, if not before.

It is generally pride and passion that engage people in quarrels and law-suits. It is the very character of a good man, that he will upon occasion, recede from the utmost rigour of what he might in justice demand. If this character were a common one, there would be few law-suits; which whoever loves, I heartily wish him, for his instruction, the full enjoyment of all its peculiar delights, as attendance, expence, waste of time, fear, and wrangling, with the hatred of all who know his character, and the diminution of his fortune, by every suit he engages in.

Nothing shews a greater abjectness of spirit than an overbearing temper, appearing in a person's behaviour to inferiors. To insult or abuse those who dare not answer again, is as sure a mark of cowardice, as it would be to attack with a drawn sword a woman or a child. And wherever you see a person given to insult his inferiors, you may assure yourself, he will creep to his superiors; for the same baseness of mind will lead him to act the part of a bully to those who cannot resist,