The first Mistake belonging to Business is the going into it.
Men make it such a Point of Honour to be fit for Business, that they forget to examine whether Business is fit for a Man of Sense.
There is Reason to think the most celebrated Philosophers would have been Bunglers at Business; but the Reason is because they despised it.
It is not a Reproach but a Compliment to Learning, to say, that Great Scholars are less fit for Business; since the truth is, Business is so much a lower thing than Learning, that a Man used to the last cannot easily bring his Stomach down to the first.
The Government of the World is a great thing; but it is a very coarse one too, compared with the Fineness of Speculative Knowledge.
The Dependance of a great Man upon a greater, is a Subjection that lower Men cannot easily comprehend.
Ambition hath no Mean, it is either upon all four or upon Tiptoes.
Nothing can be humbler than Ambition, when it is so disposed.
Popularity is a Crime from the Moment it is sought; it is only a Virtue where Men have it whether they will or no.
It is generally an Appeal to the People from the Sentence given by Men of Sense against them.