“A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.”

Advocating practical awareness without allowing wealth to govern the affections · Prose aphorism, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

• Fame
• Truth

“Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.”

Presenting imagination and insight as forms of perception · Prose aphorism, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

• Art
• Beauty

“Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old.”

Distinguishing the desire for longevity from the burdens of ageing · Prose aphorism, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

• Mortality
• Time

“May you live all the days of your life.”

A concise blessing for fully inhabiting the time one is given · Prose aphorism, Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)

• Joy
• Time

“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own.”

Observing how satire exposes human hypocrisy while leaving self-knowledge difficult · Preface to The Battle of the Books (1704)

• Art
• Truth