ridiculous.

  He that lives well is learned enough.

  Most People return small Favours, acknowledge middling

  ones, and repay great ones with Ingratitude.

  What will not Lux’ry taste? Earth, Sea, and Air,

  Are daily ransack’d for the Bill of Fare.

  Don’t judge of Men’s Wealth or Piety, by their

  Sunday Appearances.

  For want of a Nail the Shoe is lost; for want of a Shoe

  the Horse is lost; for want of a Horse the Rider is lost.

  The busy man has few idle Visitors; to the boiling Pot

  the Flies come not.

  Calamity and Prosperity are the Touchstones of

  Integrity.

  Kings have long Arms, but misfortune longer; let

  none think themselves out of her Reach.

  Love, cough, and a smoke, can’t well be hid.

  If you’d have a servant that you like, serve yourself.

  To whom thy secret thou dost tell,

  To him thy freedom thou dost sell.

  He that pursues two hares at once, does not catch one

  and lets t’other go.

  Tell a miser he’s rich and woman she’s old, you’ll get

  no money of one, nor kindness of t’other.

  The sleeping Fox catches no poultry. Up! up!

  Don’t go to the doctor with every distemper, nor

  to the lawyer with every quarrel, nor to the pot for

  every thirst.

  If your riches are yours, why don’t you take them

  with you t’other World?

  If worldly Goods cannot save me from Death, they

  ought not to hinder me of eternal Life.

  Ambition often spends foolishly what Avarice had

  wickedly collected.

  Great Estates may venture more;

  Little Boats must keep near Shore.

  Rather go to bed supperless than run in debt for a

  breakfast.

  Bad Gains are true Losses.

  God gives all Things to Industry.

  Diligence overcomes Difficulties, Sloth makes them.

  A Change of Fortune hurts a wise Man no more than

  a Change of the Moon.

  Tim and his Handsaw are good in their Place,

  Tho’ not fit for preaching or shaving a face.

  When Knaves betray each other, one can scarce be

  blamed or the other pitied.

  Content is the Philosopher’s Stone, that turns all it

  touches into Gold.

  For Age and Want save while you may;

  No morning Sun lasts a whole Day.

  Where Sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

  The hasty Bitch brings forth blind Puppies.

  Two dry Stocks will burn a green One.

  Praise little, dispraise less.

  Don’t think so much of your Cunning, as to forget

  other Men’s: a Cunning Man is overmatched by a

  cunning Man and a Half.

  You may give a Man an Office, but you cannot give

  him Discretion.

  A Child thinks 20 Shillings and 20 Years can scarce

  ever be spent.

  To be intimate with a foolish Friend, is like going to

  Bed to a Razor.

  Prodigality of Time produces Poverty of Mind as

  well of Estate.

  The first Mistake in public Business, is the going into it.

  He that’s content hath enough. He that complains

  hath too much.

  Spare and have is better than spend and crave.

  Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.

  Lend money to an enemy, and thou’lt gain him; to a

  friend, and thou’lt lose him.

  Rob not God, nor the Poor, lest thou ruin thyself;

  the Eagle snatcht a Coal from the Altar, but it fired

  her Nest.

  Wealth and Content are not always Bedfellows.

  He that has a Trade has an Office of Profit and Honour.

  The diligent Spinner has a large Shift.

  A wise Man will desire no more than what he may

  get justly, use soberly, distribute chearfully and leave

  contentedly.

  Pardoning the Bad, is injuring the Good.

  Plough deep while Sluggards sleep; and you shall have

  Corn to sell and to keep.

  Laziness travels so slowly that Poverty soon overtakes

  him.

  He that by the Plough would thrive,

  Himself must either hold or drive.

  The generous Mind least regards Money and yet most

  feels the Want of it.

  The second Vice is Lying; the first is running in Debt.

  For one poor Man there are a hundred indigent.

  A Plowman on his Legs is higher than a Gentleman

  on his Knees.

  Pride breakfasted with Plenty, dined with Poverty,

  supped with Infamy.

  Proportion your Charity to the strength of your

  Estate, or God will Proportion your Estate to the

  Weakness of your Charity.

  The Borrower is a Slave to the Lender; the Security

  to both.

  Where there is Hunger, Law is not regarded; and

  where Law is not regarded, there will be Hunger.

  Think of three Things—whence you came, where

  you are going, and to Whom you must account.

  There was never a good Knife made of bad Steel.

  When a Friend deals with a Friend,

  Let the bargain be clear and well penn’d,

  That they may continue Friends to the End.

  Get what you can, and what you get hold;

  ’Tis the Stone that will turn all your Lead into Gold.

  An honest Man will receive neither Money nor Praise

  that is not his due.

  He that would rise at Court, must begin by creeping.

  ’Tis easier to build two Chimneys than maintain one

  in Fuel.

  He that would catch Fish, must venture his Bait.

  Dally not with other Folks’ Women or Money.

  Work as if you were to live 100 years, Pray as if you

  were to die To-morrow.

  Idleness is the Dead Sea, that swallows all Virtues: Be

  active in business, that Temptation may

  miss her Aim; the Bird that sits, is easily shot.

  Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed

  of it, is.

  Neither a fortress nor a maidenhead will hold out

  long after they begin to parley.

  Hunger never saw bad bread.

  The favour of the great is no inheritance.

  Distrust and caution are the parents of security.

  A fine genius in his own country, is like gold in the

  mine.

  The old man has given all to his son: O fool! to undress

  thy self before thou art going to bed.

  Where bread is wanting, all’s to be sold.

  There is neither honour nor gain, got in dealing with

  a villain.

  Snowy winter, a plentiful harvest.

  In success be moderate.

  No man e’er was glorious, who was not laborious.

  Hope of gain lessens pain.

  Jack Little sow’d little, and little he’ll reap.

  Do good to thy friend to keep him, to thy enemy to

  gain him.

  Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander, hath as lasting

  fame as his master.

  When ’tis fair, be sure take your great coat with you.

  Look before, or you’ll find yourself behind.

  Weighty questions ask for deliberate answers.

  The king’s cheese is half wasted in parings; but no

  matter, ’tis made of the peoples milk.

  Nothing but money is sweeter than honey.

  Opportunity is the great bawd.

  He is no clown that drives the plow, but he that doth

  clownish things.

  The good pay-master is lord of another man’s purse.

  Bargaining has neither friends nor relations.

  When you are sick, what you like best is to be chosen

  for a medicine in the first place; what experience

  tells you is best, is to be chosen in the second place;

  what reason (i.e. theory) says is best, is to be chosen

  in the last place. But if you can get Dr. Inclination,

  Dr. Experience, and Dr. Reason to hold a consultation

  together, they will give you the best advice that

  can be taken.

  God heals, and the doctor takes the fees.

  If you desire many things, many things will seem but

  a few.

  Receive before you write, but write before you pay.

  The miser’s cheese is wholesomest.

  Don’t misinform your doctor nor your lawyer.

  ’Tis less discredit to abridge petty charges, than to

  stoop to petty gettings.

  Pollio, who values nothing that’s within,

  Buys books as men hunt beavers,—for their skin.

  Industry need not wish.

  O Lazy-bones! Dost thou think God would have

  given thee arms and legs, if he had not design’d thou

  should’st use them.

  A cure for poetry,

  Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer, dead,

  Thro’ which the living Homer beg’d his bread.

  Some are justly laught at for keeping their money

  foolishly, others for spending it idly: he is the greatest

  fool that lays it out in a purchase of repentance.

  When befriended, remember it: when you befriend,

  forget it.

  Lying rides upon debt’s back.

  Rob not for burnt offerings.

  No workman without tools,

  Nor lawyer without fools,

  Can live by their rules.

  Money and good manners make the gentleman.

  Death takes no bribes.

  Beware, beware! He’ll cheat ’ithout scruple, who can

  without fear.

  Content and riches seldom meet together,

  Riches take thou, contentment I had rather.

  Speak in contempt of none, from slave to king,

  The meanest bee hath, and will use, a sting.

  If you’d have it done, go: if not, send.

  Many a long dispute among divines may be thus

  abridg’d, It is so: It is not so, It is so; It is not so.

  He who buys had need have 100 eyes, but one’s

  enough for him that sells the stuff.

  Women & wine,

  Game & deceit,

  Make the wealth small

  And the wants great.

  All mankind are beholden to him that is kind to the

  good.

  Better is a little with content than much with

  contention.

  He that’s secure is not safe.

  A cold April, the barn will fill.

  Too much plenty makes mouth dainty.

  Who dainties love, shall beggars prove.

  A man has no more goods than he gets good by.

  The art of getting riches consists very much in thrift.

  All men are not equally qualified for getting money,

  but it is in the power of every one alike to practise

  this virtue.

  He that would be beforehand in the world, must be

  beforehand with his business: it is not only ill management,

  but discovers a slothful disposition, to do

  that in the afternoon, which should have been done

  in the morning.

  Useful attainments in your minority will procure

  riches in maturity, of which writing and accounts are

  not the meanest.

  ’Tis hard (but glorious) to be poor and honest: an

  empty sack can hardly stand upright; but if it does,

  ’tis a stout one!

  Those that have much business must have much

  pardon.

  Bis dat qui cito dat: he gives twice that gives soon;

  i.e. he will soon be called upon to give again.

  He that builds before he counts the cost, acts foolishly;

  and he that counts before he builds, finds he did

  not count wisely.

  If you have no honey in your pot, have some in your

  mouth.

  Gifts much expected, are paid not given.

  The cat in gloves catches no mice.

  If you’d know the value of money, go and borrow

  some.

  The day is short, the work great, the workmen lazy,

  the wages high, the master urgeth; up, then, and be

  doing.

  An hundred thieves cannot strip one naked man,

  especially if his skin’s off.

  Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe,

  seldom executed.

  Trouble springs from idleness; toil from ease.

  The way to be safe, is never be secure.

  Great almsgiving, lessens no man’s living.

  To serve the publick faithfully, and at the same time

  please it entirely, is impracticable.

  The idle man is the devil’s hireling; whose livery is

  rags, whose diet and wages are famine and diseases.

  Sleep without supping, and you’ll rise without owing

  for it.

  Have you somewhat to do to-morrow, do it today.

  Lost time is never found again.

  Idleness is the greatest Prodigality.

  Many estates are spent in the getting,

  Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting.

  Well done is better than well said.

  ON LOVE, MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND FRIENDSHIP

  Be slow in chusing a friend, slower in changing.

  No better relation that a prudent and faithful friend.

  Ne’er take a wife till thou hast a house (and a fire) to

  put her in.