The explanation of the propensity of the English people to portrait painting is to be found in their relish for a Fact. Let a man do the grandest things, fight the greatest battles, or be distinguished by the most brilliant personal heroism, yet the English people would prefer his portrait to a painting of the great deed. The likeness they can judge of; his existence is a Fact. But the truth of the picture of his deeds they cannot judge of, for they have no imagination.

How difficult it is to get men to believe that any other man can or does act from disinterestedness!

Invention is totally independent of the will.

Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence.

Temperance in everything is requisite for happiness.

The great difficulty is first to win a reputation; the next to keep it while you live; and the next to preserve it after you die, when affection and interest are over, and nothing but sterling excellence can preserve your name. Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence.

There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil.