Am still unwell; I cannot help it! Apt to make them think themselves more necessary than they are BUT OF THIS EVERY MAN WILL BELIEVE AS HE THINKS PROPER Conjectures pass upon us for truths Enemies as if they may one day become one's friends Have I employed my time, or have I squandered it? Home, be it ever so homely Jog on like man and wife; that is, seldom agreeing Less one has to do, the less time one finds to do it in Many things which seem extremely probable are not true More one works, the more willing one is to work Most ignorant are, as usual, the boldest conjecturers Nipped in the bud No great regard for human testimony Not to communicate, prematurely, one's hopes or one's fears Person to you whom I am very indifferent about, I mean myself Petty jury Something must be said, but that something must be nothing Sow jealousies among one's enemies Think to atone by zeal for their want of merit and importance Think yourself less well than you are, in order to be quite so What have I done to-day? Will pay very dear for the quarrels and ambition of a few LETTERS TO HIS SON, 1759-65 [LC#09][lc09sxxx.xxx]3359 Whatever one MUST do, one should do 'de bonne grace'. Appears that you are rather a gainer by your misfortune. I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know. In short, let it be your maxim through life to know all you can know, yourself; and never to trust implicitly to the informations of others. This rule has been of infinite service to me in the course of my life. I feel a gradual decay, though a gentle one; and I think that I shall not tumble, but slide gently to the bottom of the hill of life. When that will be, I neither know nor care, for I am very weary. I find nothing much worth either desiring or fearing. But these reflections, which suit with seventy, would be greatly premature at two- and-thirty. So make the best of your time; enjoy the present hour, but 'memor ultimae'. In the intercourse of the world, it is often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows, and to have forgotten what one remembers.