Indolence Is The Devil's Cushion.

There Is A Certain Race Of Men That Either Imagine It Their Duty, Or Make It Their Amusement, To Hinder The Reception Of Every Work Of Learning Or Genius, Who Stand As Sentinels In The Avenues Of Fame, And Value Themselves Upon Giving Ignorance And Envy The First Notice Of A Prey.

A Contempt Of The Monuments And The Wisdom Of The Past, May Be Justly Reckoned One Of The Reigning Follies Of These Days, To Which Pride And Idleness Have Equally Contributed.

Let Us Take A Patriot, Where We Can Meet Him; And, That We May Not Flatter Ourselves By False Appearances, Distinguish Those Marks Which Are Certain, From Those Which May Deceive; For A Man May Have The External Appearance Of A Patriot, Without The Constituent Qualities; As False Coins Have Often Lustre, Though They Want Weight.

It Is A Common Error, And The Greater And More Mischievous For Being So Common, To Believe That Repentance Best Becomes And Most Concerns Dying Men. Indeed, What Is Necessary Every Hour Of Our Life Is Necessary In The Hour Of Death Too, And As Long As One Lives He Will Have Need Of Repentance, And Therefore It Is Necessary In The Hour Of Death Too; But He Who Hath Constantly Exercised Himself In It In His Health And Vigor, Will Do It With Less Pain In His Sickness And Weakness; And He Who Hath Practiced It All His Life, Will Do It With More Ease And Less Perplexity In The Hour Of His Death.

I Had Rather See The Portrait Of A Dog That I Know, Than All The Allegorical Paintings They Can Show Me In The World.