I Fancied I Had Some Constancy Of

I Know Not Whether It Would Be Too Bold An Assertion To Say That Candor Makes Capacity.... But In Order To Try The Truth Of Any Observation Relating To The Mind, The Easiest Method Is To Illustrate It By Outward Objects. If, For Instance, A Man Was To Sweat And Labor All The Days Of His Life To Fill A Chest Which Was Already Full, The Absurdity Of His Vain Endeavor Would Be Glaring. In The Same Manner, When The Human Mind Is Filled And Stuffed With Notions Brought Thither By Fallacious Inclinations, There Is No Room For Truth To Enter: Candor Being Banished, Passions Alone Bear The Sway.

[t]he Judicious Reader Ought To Know What The Chief Character In Any Work Of The Imagination Will Naturally Perform, According To The Situation He Is Thrown Into, As Well As Doth The Author Himself.

The Words Of Kindness Are More Healing To A Drooping Heart Than Balm Or Honey.

Men Look On Knowledge Which They Learn--or Might Learn--from Others As They Do On The Most Beautiful Structures Which Are Not Their Own: In Outward Objects, They Would Rather Behold Their Own Hogsty Than Their Neighbor's Palace; And In Mental Ones, Would Prefer One Grain Of Knowledge Gained By Their Own Observation To All The Wisdom Of A Thousand Solomons.

[h]ow Do I Pity Those Who (assuming The Name Of Friends) Surround Themselves With Maxims Importing The Wisdom Of Doubt And Suspicion, 'til They Impose On Themselves That Very Hard Task Of Laboring Through Life Without Ever Knowing A Human Creature To Whom They Can Make The Proper Use Of Language And Freely Speak The Dictates Of Their Hearts!