“In spight of the intrinsick Merit of Wit, we find it seldom brings a Man into the Favour, or even Company of the Great, and the Fair, unless it be for a Laugh and away; never thought on, but when present; nor then neither, for the sake of the Man of Wit, but their own Diversion.  The infallible way to ingratiate ones self with Quality, is that dull and empty Entertainment, called Gaming, for Picket, Ombre, and Basset, keep always Places even for a quondam Foot-man, or a Drawer at the Assemblies, Apartments, and Visiting-days.  If you lose, you oblige with your Money; if you Win, you command with your Fortune; the Lord is your Bubble, and the Lady what you please to make her.”

* Flattery of our Wit, has the same Power over Us, which Flattery of Beauty has over a Woman; it keeps up that good Opinion of our selves which is necessary to beget Assurance; and Assurance produces success both in Fortune and Love.

* Some Men take as much Pains to persuade the World that they have Wit, as Bullies do that they have Courage, and generally with the same Success, for they seldom deceive any one but themselves.

* Some pert Coxcombs, so violently affect the Reputation of Wits, that not a French Journal, Mercury, Farce, or Opera, can escape their Pillaging:  yet the utmost they arrive at, is but a sort of Jack-a-lanthorn Wit, that like the Sun-shine which wanton Boys with fragments of Looking-glass reflect in Men’s Eyes, dazles the Weak-sighted, and troubles the strong.  These are the Muses Black-Guard, that like those of our Camp, tho’ they have no share in the Danger or Honour, yet have the greatest in the Plunder; that indifferently strip all that lie before ’em, dead or alive, Friends or Enemies:  Whatever they light on, is Terra incognita, and they claim the right of Discoverers, that is, of giving their Names to it.

* I think the Learned, and Unlearned Blockhead pretty Equal:  For ’tis all one to me, whether a Man talk Nonsense, or Unintelligible Sense.

* There is nothing of which we assent to speak with more Humility and Indifference than our own Sense, yet nothing of which we think with more Partiality and Presumption.  There have been some so bold, as to assume the Title of the Oracles of Reason to themselves, and their own Writings; and we meet with others daily, that think themselves Oracles of Wit.  These are the most vexatious Animals in the World, that think they have a privileee to torment and plague every Body; but those most who have the best Reputation for their Wit and Judgment.

* There’s somewhat that borders upon Madness in every exalted Wit.