William Temple

“ Who deride all Form and Order, as well as Piety and Truth; And, under the notion of Fopperies, endeavour to dissolve the very Bonds of all Civil Society; though by the Favour and Protection thereof, they themselves enjoy so much greater proportions of Wealth, and of Pleasures, than would fall to their share, if all lay in common, as they seem to design, (for then such Possessions would belong of right to the strongest and bravest among us.) ”

“ Nor can any veins of good Humour be greater than those, that swell by the success of wise Counsels, and by the fortunate Events of publique Affairs; since a Man that takes pleasure in doing good to Ten thousand, must needs have more, than he that takes none, but in doing Good to Himself. ”

“ For all the Pleasures of Sense, that any Man can enjoy, are within the reach of a private Fortune, and ordinary Contrivance; Grow fainter with Age, and duller with use; Must be revived with intermissions, and wait upon the returns of Appetite, which are no more at call of the Rich, than the Poor. The flashes of Wit and good Humour, that rise from the Vapours of Wine, are little different from those that proceed from the heats of Blood in the first approaches of Fevers, or Frenzies ”

“ I am very sensible, how ill a Trade it is to write, where much is ventur'd, and little can be gain'd; since, whoever does it ill is sure of contempt; and the justliest that can be, when no Man provokes him to discover his own follies, or to trouble the World, if he writes well, he raises the envy of those Wits that are possest of the Vogue, and are jealous of their Preferment there, as if it were in Love, or in State; And have found, that the nearest way to their own Reputation lies, right or wrong, by the derision of other Men. ”

“ Having lately seen the State of the United Provinces, after a prodigious growth in Riches, Beauty, extent of Commerce, and number of Inhabitants, arrived at length to such a height, (by the strength of their Navies, their fortified Towns, and standing-Forces, with a constant Revenue, proportion'd to the support of all this Greatness,) as made them the Envy of some, the Fear of others, and the Wonder of all their Neighbours. ”

“ Nor are we to think Princes themselves losers, or less entertain'd, when we see them employ their Time, and their Thoughts, in so useful Speculations, and to so Glorious Ends: But that rather, thereby they attain their true Prerogative of being Happier, as well as Greater, than Subjects can be. ”

“ I thought a Map of their State and Government would not be unwelcome to the World, since it is full as necessary as the others, to understand the late Revolutions, and Changes among them. And as no Man's Story can be well written till he is dead ”

“ That so, by Reflections upon Foreign Events, they may provide the better and the earlier against those at home, and raise their own Honour and Happiness, by equal degrees with the Prosperity and Safety of the Nations, they Govern. ”

“ Nor consequently, one more excuseable for giving way to such amusements, as this: Having nothing to do, but to enjoy the ease of a private Life and Fortune; which, as I know no Man envies, so (I thank God,) no Man can reproach. ”

“ Yet it will not have render'd them less agreeable to common Eyes, who, like Men that live near the Sea, will run out upon the Cliffs to gate at it in a Storm, though they would not look out of their Windows, to see it in a Calm. ”

“ Being grown cold to the pleasures of younger or livelier Men; And having ended the Entertainments of Building, and Planting, (which use to succeed them;) finding little taste in common Conversation, and trouble in much Reading, from the care of my Eyes (since an illness contracted by many unnecessary diligences in my Employments abroad;) there can hardly be found an idler Man, than I ”