No profit whatever can possibly be made but at the expense of another. . . . The Merchant only thrives, and grows rich, by the pride, wantonness and debauchery of youth; the husbandman by the price and scarcity of grain; the architect by the ruin of buildings; lawyers, and officers of Justice, by the suits and contentions of men; nay even the honor and office of Divines are derived from our death and vices. A physician takes no pleasure in the health even of his friends . . . nor a soldier in the peace of his country and so of the rest. Essays

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. Maxim for Revolutionists

There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it. Mark Twain's Notebook

Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones. Don Quixote