Souls are disturb'd at having their Ignorance reprov'd and the reason is that being generally very Blind and Foolish they never trouble themselves with Doubts and are fully satisfied they see those things clearly which they see only through the thick Mist of a clouded Understanding XXVIII To know things judiciously we ought always to be upon our guard against the Reputation of him that speaks them the Air of the Face the manner of Speaking the Quality the Time the Place all imposes XXIX Study makes a greater difference between a Scholar and an Ignorant Man than there is between an Ignorant Man and a Brute But the Air of the World yet makes a greater Distinction between a Polite and a Learned Person Knowledge begins the Gentleman and the Commerce of the World compleats him XXX 'T is the fault of weak Reasoners to venture upon many things they don't understand and to renounce them as soon as they come to know them XXXI All Objects have different Faces and the Mind which is in a continual Motion looks upon them as it turns insomuch that we have nothing If I may so speak but new Aspects thinking to enjoy new Discoveries XXXII The great Commerce with the World hinders all Attention what we see in others keeps us from examining well our selves XXXIII By a little knowledge of Nature Men become Atheists but a great deal returns them back again to a sound and religious Mind * XXXIV Though it may be an Argument of great Wit to give ingenious Reasons for many wonderful Appearances in Nature yet it is an Evidence of small Judgment to be positive in any thing but the acknowledgment of our own Ignorance * XXXV Our Pride is always greater than our Ignorance and what we want in Knowledge we supply by Sufficiency When we have look'd about us as far as we can we conclude there is no more to be seen when we have shot our best we are sure none ever did nor ever can shoot better or beyond it Our own Reason is the certain measure of Truth our own Knowledge of what is possible in Nature Though our Mind and our Thoughts change every seven Years as well as our Strength and our Features Nay though our Opinions change every Week or every Day yet we are sure or at least confident that our present Thoughts and Conclusions are just and true and cannot be deceiv'd And among all the Miseries to which Man is born and subjected in the whole Course of his Life he has this one Felicity to comfort and support him that in all Ages in all things every Man is always in the right A Boy of fifteen is wiser than his Father at forty the meanest Subject than his Prince or Governors and the Modern Scholars because they have for a Hundred Years past learnt their Lesson pretty well are much more knowing than the Ancients Masters * XXXVI It is undoubtedly true that scarce any Man's Mind is so capable of thinking strongly in the presence of one whom he Fears and Reverences as he is when that Restraint is taken off And this is to be found not only in weighty Matters but also in the Arts of Discourse and Raillery themselves For we have often seen Men of bold Tempers that have over-aw'd and govern'd the Wit of most Companies to have been disturb'd and dumb and bashful as Children when some other Man has been near who us'd to out-talk them Such a kind of natural Sovereignty there is in some Mens Minds over others which must needs be much greater when it is advanc'd by long use and the venerable name of a Master * XXXVII Those who take their Opinions from others Rules are commonly stricter imposers upon their Scholars than their own Authors were on them or than the first Inventors of things themselves are upon others Whatever the Cause of this be whether the first Men are made meek and gentle by their long search and by better understanding all the difficulties of Knowledge while those that learn afterwards only hastily catching things in small Systems are soon satisfied before they have broken their Pride and so become more imperious or whether it arises from hence that the same meanness of Soul which made them bound their Thoughts by others Precepts makes them also Insolent to their Inferiours as we always find Cowards the most Cruel Or whatever other Cause may be alledg'd the Observation is certain that the Successors are usually more positive and tyrannical than the Beginners * XXXVIII It is Liberty alone which inspires Men with losty Thoughts and elevates their Souls to a higher Pitch than Rules of Art can direct Books of Rhetorick make Men Copious and Methodical but they alone can never infuse that true Enthusiastick Rage which Liberty breaths into their Souls who enjoy it and which guided by a sedate Judgment will carry Men further than the greatest Industry and the quickest Parts can go without it * XXXIX All Men who make a Mystery of Matters of Learning and industriously oblige their Scholars to conceal their Dictates give the World great Reason to suspect that their Knowledge is all Juggling and Trick * XL. No Pretences to greater measures of Knowledge grounded upon account of long Successions of Learned Men in any Country ought to gain belief when set against the Learning of other Nations who make no such Pretences unless Inventions and Discoveries answerable to those Advantages be produced by their Advocates * XLI The growth of Learning as well as of Natural Bodies has some short Periods beyond which it cannot reach and after which it must begin to decay It falls in one Country or one Age and rises again in others but never beyond a certain Pitch One Man or one Country at a certain time runs a great length in some certain kinds of Knowledge but lose as much ground in others that were perhaps as useful and valuable There is a certain degree of Capacity in the greatest Vessel and when 't is full if you pour in still it must run out some way or other and the more it runs out on one side the less runs out at the other So the greatest Memory after a certain degree as it learns or retains more of some Things or Words loses and forgets as much of others The largest and deepest reach of Thought the more it pursues some certain Subjects the more it neglects others * XLII It is natural to all Ranks of Men to have some one Darling upon which their Care is chiefly fixt If Mechanicks alone were to make a Philosophy they would bring it all into their Shops and force it wholly to consist of Springs and Wheels and Weights If Physicians they would not depart from their Art scarce any thing would be consider'd besides the Body of Man the Causes Signs and Cures of Diseases So much is to be found in Men of all Conditions of that which is called Pedantry in Scholars which is nothing else but an obstinate
one nor will they express the other Children sweeten Labour but they make Misfortunes more bitter They increase the Cares of Life but they mitigate the Remembrance of Death X. * They that are the First Raisers of their Families are most indulgent toward their Children beholding them as the Continuance not only of their Kind but of their Works and so both Children and Creatures XI * He that has Wife and Children has given Hostages to Fortune for they are Impediments to great Enterprises either of Vertue or Mischief The Perpetuity by Generation is common to Beasts but Memory Merit and Noble Works are proper to Men And certainly a Man shall find the Noblest Works and Foundations have always proceeded from Childless Men which have sought to express the Images of their Minds where those of their Bodies have fail'd and both in Aâ—â—ection and Means have married and endow'd the Publick So that the Care of Posterity is most in them that have none XI * The most ordinary cause of a single Life is Liberty especially in certain Self-pleasing and Humourous Minds which are so sensible of every Restraint that they will go near to think their Girdles and Garters to be Bonds and Shackles XII * Unmarried Men are best Friends best Masters best Servants but not always best Subjects for they are light to run away and almost all Fugitives are of that Condition Mind Understanding Wit Memory Heart I. THe Strength and Weakness of a Man's Mind are improper Terms since they are really nothing else but the Organs of our Bodies being well or ill dispos'd II. 'T is a great Errour the making a difference between the Wit and the Iudgment For in truth the Iudgment is nothing else but the Brightness of Wit which penetrates into the very bottom of Things observes all that ought to be observ'd there and descries what seem'd to be imperceptible From whence we must conclude That 't is the Extention and Energy of this Light of Wit that produces all those Effects usually ascrib'd to Iudgment III. All Men may be allow'd to give a good Character of their Hearts or Inclinations but no body dares to speak well of his own Wit IV. Polite Wit consists in nice curious and honest Thoughts V. The Gâ—llantry of Wit consists in Flattery well couch'd VI. It often happens that some things offer themselves to our Wit which are naturally finer and better than is possible for a Man to make them by the Additions of Art and Study VII Wit is always made a Cully to the Heart VIII Many People are acquainted with their own Wit that are not acquainted with their own Heart IX It is not in the power of Wit to act a long while the Part of the Heart X. A Man of Wit would be sometimes miserably at a loss but for the Company of Fools XI A Man of Wit may sometimes be a Coxcomb but a Man of Iudgment never can XII The different Ways or Methods for compassing a Design come not so much from the Quickness and Fertility of an industrious Wit as dim-â—ighted Vnderstanding which makes us pitch upon every fresh Matter that presents it self to our groping Fancy and does not furnish us with Judgment sufficient to discern at first sight which of them is best for our Purpose XIII The Twang of a Man's Native Country sticks by him as much in his Mind and Disposition as it does in his Tone of Speaking XIV Wit serves sometimes to make us play the Fool with greater Considence XV. Shallow Wits are apt to censure every thing above their own Capacity XVI 'T is past the Power of Imagination it self to invent so many distant Contrarieties as there are naturally in the Heart of every Man XVII No body is so well acquainted with himself as to know his own Mind at all times XVIII Every body complains of his Memory but no body of his Iudgment XIX There is a kind of general Revolution not more visible in the turn it gives to the Fortunes of the World than it is in the Change of Men's Vnderstandings and the different Relish of Wit XX. Men often think to conduct and govern themselves when all the while they are led and manag'd and while their Vnderstanding aims at one thing their Heart insensibly draws them into another XXI Great Souls are not distinguish'd by having less Passion and more Virtue but by having nobler and greater Designs than the Vulgar XXII We allow few Men to be either Witty or Reasonable besides those who are of our own Opinion XXIII We are as much pleas'd to discover another Man's Mind as we are discontented to have our own found out XXIV A straight and well-contriv'd Mind finds it easier to yield to a perverse one than to direct and manage it XXV Coxcombs are never so troublesome as when they pretend to Wit XXVI A little Wit with Discretion tires less at long-run than much Wit without Iudgment XXVII Nothing comes amiss to a great Soul and there is as much Wisdom in bearing other People's Defects as in relishing their good Qualities XXVIII It argues a great heighth of Iudgment in a Man to discover what is in another's Breast and to conceal what is in his own XXIX If Poverty be the Mother of Wickedness want of Wit must be the Father XXX * A Mind that has no Ballance in it self turns insolent or abject out of measure with the various Change of Fortune XXXI * Our Memories are frail and treacâ—erous and we think many excellent things which for want of making a deep impression we can never recover afterwards In vain we hunt for the stragling Idea and rummage all the Solitudes and Retirements of our Soul for a lost Thought which has left no Track or Footsteps behind it The swift Offspring of the Mind is gone 't is dead as soon as born nay often proves abortive in the moment it was conceiv'd The only way therefore to retain our Thoughts is to â—asten them in Words and chain them in Writing XXXII * A Man is never so great a Dunce by Nature but Love Malice or Necessity will supply him with some Wit XXXIII * There is a Defect which is almost unavoidable in great Inventors it is the Custom of such earnest and powerful Minds to do wonderful Things in the beginning but shortly after to be over-born by the Multitude and Weight of their own Thoughts then to yield and cool by little and little and at last grow weary and even to loath that upon which they were at first the most eager This is the wonted Constitution of great Wits such tender things are those exalted Actions of the Mind and so hard it is for those Imaginations that can run swift and mighty Races to be able to travel a long and constant Journey The Effects of this Infirmity have been so remarkable that we have certianly lost very many Inventions after they have been in part fashion'd by the meer Languishing and Negligence
It has different Inclinations after the diversity of Tempers which turn and devote it sometimes to Riches sometimes to Glory sometimes to Pleasure it alters them according to the variety of our Age Fortune and Experience It never matters whether it has many or but one because it divides it self to many or gathers and collects it self to one when either its Interest or Fancy requires it It is unsteady and besides the Alterations it receives from external Things there are a thousand that spring from it self It is inconstant by Fickleness by Love by Novelty and by Nauseating and Dislike It is capricious and humoursome Sometimes with incredible Hardships it snatches at Things not only unprofitable but even hurtful and offensive which it hankers after only because it has a mind to it It is unaccountable and fantastical it often busies it self about the most vain and frivolous Employments it delights in the most insipid Things and keeps its Loftiness and Pride in the vilest Drudgery It is in all states of Life as in all sorts of Conditions it lives every-where it lives upon every thing sometimes upon nothing It is contented with the Enjoyment of Things and the Want of them It sides with its Foes follows their Designs and which is wonderful it hates it self hatches its own Rnin and pushes on its Overthrow To sum up all All its care is to subsist provided it be it is content to be its own Enemy We ought not therefore to think it strange to see it associate with the roughest Ansterity and hardest Mortification and side with them to destroy it self for it is no sooner cast down in one place but it rises up again in another When it seems to forsake its Pleasure it does but suspend or alter it nay when it is so conquer'd that Men would believe themselves to be rid of it it springs up again and triumphs in its Overthrow This is the true Picture of Self-love of which the whole Life is but a strong and long Agitation The Sea is a sensible and lively Image of it for you may find in the continual Ebbs and Flows of its Waves a faithful Representation of the boisterous and turbulent Succession of Self-love's everlasting and endless Movements II. Self-love is the greatest Flatterer in the World III. Self-love bears less patiently the Condemnation of our Tastes or Inclinations than of our Opinions IV. The Fondness or Indifference that Philosopâ—ers express'd for Life was but a particular Tang of the Love of themselves for which there is no more reason to be given than for the variety of Palates or the choice of Colours in some People V. The first motion of Joy that we resent at the Happiness and Preferment of our Friends does seldom proceed either from our Good-nature or the Kindness we have for them but generally from Self-love which flatters us that our Turn of being happy is coming or that we shall reap some Bâ—nefit from their Prosperity VI. As if the Power of transforming it self were small Self-love does frequently transform its Objects too and that after a most wonderful manner for it not only disguises them so artificially as to deceive it self but it perfectly alters the Nature and Condition of the Things themselves Thus when any Person acts in opposition to us when he crosses and persecutes us Self-love passes Sentence upon his Actions with the utmost strictness and severity of Iustice it aggravates all his Imperfections so as to make them look monstrous and horrible and sets his Good Qualities in so ill a Light as to make them appear more disagreeable and nauseous than his very Failings And yet as soon as the same Person ceases to be our Enemy or that any of our Interests brings him to Reconciliation and Favour the Satisfaction we receive presently restores his Merit and allows it that Lustre our Aversion so lately robb'd it of His Ill Qualities vanish out of sight and his Perfections appear in a greater Splendour nay we summon all our Indulgence to excuse and justifiâ— the Quarrel he formerly had against us Tho' this Truth be evidenc'd by every Passion yet none demonstrates it so sensibly as Love For we see a Lover full of Rage and Despair at the Neglect or Infidelity of his Fondling contrive and meditate for his Revenge whatever his violent Passions suggests him Nevertheless no sooner has a kind Smile of his Darling calmed his boisterous Resentments but his Joy and Rapture pronounces this Beauty innocent he accuses himself alone and condemns nothing but his own Condemning her before and by this miraculous Power of Self-love he takes away the Blemish and Odiousness of his Mistress's Proceedings he clears her of the Crime and lays it upon himself VII The love of our selves makes our Friends appear more or less deserving in proportion to the delight we take in them and the Estimate we make of their Worth depends upon the manner of their conversing with us VIII One would think that Self-love were over-reach'd by Good-nature and Liberality and that a Man forgets himself when he promotes the Advantages of others Nevertheless this is the most effectual way to gain our ends 't is lending on Usury under the pretence of giving freely In a word 't is a nice and dexterous Way of winning over the Affections of every body IX There is no Passion wherein Self-love is so predominant as in that of Love And Men are always more disposed to sacrifice all the Ease of them they love than to part with their own X. We feel and resent both our good and ill Fortune in proportion to our Self-love XI Self-love makes more Men Cruel than natural Sternness and a rough Temper XII Self-love is often cheated by its own self for when it considers its own Interests it so wholly overlooks the Interests of others as thereby to lose all the Advantage that might beâ— made by the exchange of Kindnesses and good Offices XIII A Man is but little the better for liking himself when no body else likes him for an immoderate Love of one's self is very often chastifed by Contempt from others XIV Self-love according as it is rightly or otherwise understood and apply'd is the Cause of all the Moral Virtues and Vices in the World XV. That Prudence which is made use of in the good Management of Men's Affairs is only a wise and quick-sighted Self-love whose contrary is Inconsideration and Blindness XVI Tho' according to that Position we may rightly conclude That Men in all their Actions keep still an eye to their own Interest yet does it not follow that there is no such thing left in the World as Iustice and Honesty Men may govern themselves by commendable and honest Interests and 't is the just Discretion of a well-regulated Self-love that makes a Good or an Honest Man XVIII The Love of our selves inclines us to look upon all the Pleasures and Happiness of Life as things that we have a right to call ours