In a mist the heights can for the most part see each other; but the valleys cannot.

Poetry is to philosophy what the Sabbath is to the rest of the week.

There is as much difference between good poetry and fine verses, as between the smell of a flower-garden and of a perfumer's shop.

One saves oneself much pain, by taking pains; much trouble, by taking trouble.

I like the smell of a dunged field, and the tumult of a popular election.

If you wish a general to be beaten, send him a ream full of instructions; if you wish him to succeed, give him a destination, and bid him conquer.

Moral prejudices are the stopgaps of virtue; and, as is the case with other stopgaps, it is often more difficult to get either out or in through them than through any other part of the fence.