I believe no one qualification is so likely to make a good writer, as the power of rejecting his own thoughts.

Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole.

Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.

True Wit is Nature to advantage dress'd What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd; Something whose truth convinced at sight we find, That gives us back the image of our mind. As shades more sweetly recommend the light, So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.

A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits.

The cabinets of the sick and the closets of the dead have been ransacked to publish private letters and divulge to all mankind the most secret sentiments of friendship.