There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self. I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a Mind.
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death. They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they see nothing but sea. Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order. It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man's judgment.