’Tis Wisdom not to give more for a Thing then ’tis worth; and in Common
Equity, Part’ners should take the Good and the Bad, one with another,
or let both alone. People should not enter _Hand over Head_ into
Part’nerships or Adventures, either in War or in Business; they should
consider that the Blows and the Scars are to be divided, as well as the
Pistols and the Ducats, and the Loss as well as the Profit. The Two
Parties are as good as Man and Wife, where the Bargain is _for Better for
Worse_. Nay, there’s Brawling as well as Kissing in the very State of
Matrimony it self; and when People come to be Us’d to both at Once, let
them set one against the other, and then put the Gain in their Eyes. If
Life be a Journey, Men must expect Foul Way as well as Fair, and content
themselves to Travel in all Weathers, and through all Difficulties;
which is no more then the same Mixture that we meet with in all our
Undertakings: Wherefore let no Man Brag of his Bargain, till he has cast
up his Account, and set the Scars against the Booty.