I had done all that I could, and no Man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.

Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

Nothing [...] will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.

All industry must be excited by hope.

Where there is no difficulty there is no praise.

That eminence of learning is not to be gained without labour, at least equal to that which any other kind of greatness can require, will be allowed by those who wish to elevate the character of a scholar; since they cannot but know that every human acquisition is valuable in proportion to the difficulty of its attainment.