“Happiness, I confess, is twofac'd, and one is Opinion; but that Opinion is certainly our own; for it were equally ridiculous and impossible to shape our Actions by others Opinions.”

Asserting the sovereignty of one's own judgment over external expectations · Letter to Berenice, c. 1663

• Happiness
• Independence
• Opinion

“I find too there are few Friendships in the World Marriage-Proof; especially when the Person our Friend marries has not a Soul particularly capable of the Tenderness of that Endearment. We may generally conclude the Marriage of a Friend to be the Funeral of a Friendship.”

Reflecting the fragility of even the closest bonds when marriage intervenes · Letter to Sir Charles Cotterell, 1662

• Friendship
• Loss
• Marriage