MARCH 27
I am no politician; politics lie quite outside my province. …
Perhaps you will say: “Nay, every Englishman is a politician. … We can in a trice reform the State, point out every blunder of this or that Minister, and tell every step they ought to take to be arbiters of all Europe.”
I grant every cobbler, tinker, porter and hackney-coachman can do this. But I am not so deep learned; while they are sure of everything, I am in a manner sure of nothing, except of that very little which I see with my own eyes or hear with my own ears. However, since you desire me to tell you what I think, I will do it with all openness. Only please to remember I do not take upon me to dictate either to you or to any one.
to a friend, 1768
This will endear and sweeten every cross, which is only a painful means of a closer union with Him.
Letter, 1st January 1770
