Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.
Samuel Johnson
Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.
There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.
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... →
Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.
The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.
Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.
Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and... the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.
Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.
From the middle of life onward, only he remains vitally alive who is ready to die with life.