Letters form a by-path of literature, a charming, but occasional, retreat for people of cultivated leisure.

There are many ways of asking a favor; but to assume that you are granting the favor that you ask shows spirit and invention.

If everybody floated with the tide of talk, placidity would soon end in stagnation. It is the strong backward stroke which stirs the ripples, and gives animation and variety.

While art may instruct as well as please, it can nevertheless be true art without instructing, but not without pleasing.

the most comfortable characteristic of the period [1775-1825], and the one which incites our deepest envy, is the universal willingness to accept a good purpose as a substitute for good work.

The carefully fostered theory that schoolwork can be made easy and enjoyable breaks down as soon as anything, however trivial, has to be learned.

The party which is out sees nothing but graft and incapacity in the party which is in; and the party which is in sees nothing but greed and animosity in the party which is out.