“And I was not discourag’d by the seeming Magnitude of the Undertaking,
as I have always thought that one Man of tolerable Abilities may
work great Changes, & accomplish great Affairs among Mankind, if he
first forms a good Plan, and, cutting off all Amusements or other
Employments that would divert his Attention, makes the Execution of
that same Plan his sole Study and Business.”
“When another asserted something that I thought an Error, I deny’d
myself the Pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of immediately
showing some Absurdity in his Proposition; and in answering I began
by observing that in certain Cases or Circumstances his Opinion would
be right, but that in the present case there appear’d or seem’d to me
some Difference etc. I soon found the Advantage of this Change in my
Manners. The Conversations I engag’d in went on more pleasantly.”