All our discontents about what we want appeared to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

The best of men cannot suspend their fate: The good die early, and the bad die late.

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.

Necessity makes an honest man a knave.

Nothing’s so partial as the laws of fate, Erecting blockheads to suppress the great. Sir Francis Drake the Spanish plate-fleet won; He had been a pirate if he had got none. Sir Walter Raleigh strove, but missed the plate, And therefore died a traitor to the State. Endeavour bears a value more or less, Just as ’tis recommended by success: The lucky coxcomb ev’ry man will prize, And prosp’rous actions always pass for wise.