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Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.

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Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment.

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That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.

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Such is the state of life that none are happy but by the anticipation of change. The change itself is nothing when we have made it the next wish is t...more

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Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.

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We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining...more

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There is certainly no greater happiness than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employed to trace our own progress in existenc...more

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He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless effo...more

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It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness; and that thos...more