If the education and studies of children were suited to their inclinations and capacities, many would be made useful members of society that otherwise would make no figure in it. – Samuel Richardson
To what a bad choice is many a worthy woman betrayed, by that false and inconsiderate notion, That a reformed rake makes the best husband! – Samuel Richardson
The companion of an evening, and the companion for life, require very different qualifications. – Samuel Richardson
O! what a Godlike Power is that of doing Good! I envy the Rich and the Great for nothing else! – Samuel Richardson
There is but one pride pardonable; that of being above doing a base or dishonorable action. – Samuel Richardson
Marry first, and love will come after is a shocking assertion; since a thousand things may happen to make the state but barely tolerable, when it is entered into with mutual affection. – Samuel Richardson
Humility is a grace that shines in a high condition but cannot, equally, in a low one because a person in the latter is already, perhaps, too much humbled. – Samuel Richardson
The mind can be but full. It will be as much filled with a small disagreeable occurrence, having no other, as with a large one. – Samuel Richardson
Prejudices in disfavor of a person fix deeper, and are much more difficult to be removed, than prejudices in favor. – Samuel Richardson
As a child is indulged or checked in its early follies, a ground is generally laid for the happiness or misery of the future man. – Samuel Richardson
Shame is a fitter and generally a more effectual punishment for a child than beating. – Samuel Richardson
Married people should not be quick to hear what is said by either when in ill humor. – Samuel Richardson
The plays and sports of children are as salutary to them as labor and work are to grown persons. – Samuel Richardson
The World, thinking itself affronted by superior merit, takes delight to bring it down to its own level. – Samuel Richardson
Women are always most observed when they seem themselves least to observe, or to lay out for observation. – Samuel Richardson
Would Alexander, madman as he was, have been so much a madman, had it not been for Homer? – Samuel Richardson
A good man, though he will value his own countrymen, yet will think as highly of the worthy men of every nation under the sun. – Samuel Richardson