No body is so well acquainted with himself, as to know his own _Mind_ at all times. Every body complains of his _Memory_, but no body of his _Judgment_. 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 _Understandings_, and the different Relish or _Wit_. Men often think to conduct and govern themselves, when all the while they are led and manag'd; and while their _Understanding_ aims at one thing, their _Heart_ insensibly draws them into another. Great _Souls_ are not distinguish'd by having less _Passion_, and more _Virtue_; but by having nobler and greater Designs than the _Vulgar_. We allow few Men to be either _Witty_ or Reasonable, besides those who are of our own Opinion. We are as much pleas'd to discover another Man's _Mind_, as we are discontented to have our own found out. A straight and well-contriv'd _Mind_, finds it easier to yield to a perverse one, than to direct and manage it. _Coxcombs_ are never so troublesome, as when they pretend to _Wit_. A little _Wit_ with _Discretion_, tires less at long-run, than much _Wit_ without _Judgment_. 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_. It argues a great heighth of _Judgment_ in a Man, to discover what is in another's Breast, and to conceal what is in his own. If Poverty be the Mother of Wickedness, want of _Wit_ must be the Father. * A _Mind_ that has no Ballance in it self, turns insolent, or abject, out of measure, with the various Change of Fortune. * Our _Memories_ are frail and treacherous; 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 Foot-steps behind it: The swift Off-spring of the Mind is gone; 'tis 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 fasten them in Words, and chain them in Writing. * A Man is never so great a _Dunce_ by _Nature_, but _Love_, _Malice_, or _Necessity_, will supply him with some _Wit_.