David Mallet, also David Malloch

The vulgar refuse or crouch beneath their load; the brave bear theirs without repining.

O grant me, heav'n, a middle state,
neither too humble nor too great;
more than enough for nature's ends,
with something left to treat my friends.

Ambition! deadly tyrant! inexorable master! what alarms, what anxious hours, what agonies of heart, are the sure portion of thy gaudy slaves?

True valor, on virtue founded strong, meets all events alike.

A sovereign's great example forms a people; the public breast is noble or vile as he inspires it.

Uncertainty! fell demon of our fears! The human soul that can support despair, supports not thee.

I courted fame but as a spur to brave and honest deeds; who despises fame will soon renounce the virtues that deserve it.

Are afflictions aught
but mercies in disguise? th' alternate cup.
Medicinal though bitter, and prepar'd
by love's own hand for salutary ends.

Affliction is the wholesome soil of virtue, where patience, honor, sweet humility and calm fortitude, take root and strongly flourish.

The multitude unawed is insolent; once seized with fear, contemptible and vain.

The biggest liar in the world is They Say.

Who despises fame will soon renounce the virtues that deserve it.

Who hath not known ill-fortune, never knew himself, or his own virtue.