Beauty without religion is the most dangerous gift that nature can bestow on woman; and talents without principles, the most pernicious to man. THOUGHT. Thought rarely dwells in the robust of frame, But chooses those whose nerves less stubborn are, And who, unknowing sensual impulses, Abstracted keep—freed from th’ ignoble thrall Of pleasures, that debase men into brutes. COQUETTES. Coquettes when old, like Penelope with her web, pass half the night in undoing the labours of the day. MALICE. Malice is the spur of wit, good nature the bridle. MEDIOCRITY. If mediocrity precludes men from attaining distinction, it does not prevent their acquiring popularity, because the mass of mankind are disposed to like those who can excite neither rivalry nor attention, and who consequently leave their own pretensions undisputed. MODERN REFINEMENT. Modern refinement consists in a delicacy in words, and indelicacy of thoughts and actions. THOUGHT. Thought sleeps, until awakened by the senses. COMMON SENSE. Is the most uncommon of all senses. TALENTS. Talents, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be unostentatious. FEELINGS. Feelings are always made the excuse of temper; whereas temper much more frequently influences feelings. NATURE. Every production of the vegetable, animal, and moral world, has its natural enemy. See how certain flowers, fruits, and plants, are injured by certain insects; certain animals tormented by certain flies; and certain men, by corresponding beings of their own species, who, discovering in them certain qualities, prey on them quite as mortally as do the flies and insects on the objects of their voracity. DEATH. We mourn the dead, as though _we_ could not die, Nor think that ere the grass grows on their graves, Nay, ere our tears are dried, we may be call’d To quit this life, while counting on long years. FORGIVENESS. It is difficult not to hate those whom we have injured, because the consciousness that we have behaved unworthily, humiliates us too much in our own estimation, not to impel us to avenge it on them. NECESSITY. Necessity has been called the mother of invention; but should she not rather be named the step-mother, for to her are invariably attributed many inexcusable actions? ESPRIT FORT. An _esprit fort_ might frequently, with more justice, be styled _une tête foible_. EXPERIENCE.