All the poets are indebted more or less to those who have gone before them; even Homer's originality has been questioned, and Virgil owes almost as much to Theocritus, in his Pastorals, as to Homer, in his Heroics; and if our own countryman, Milton, has soared above both Homer and Virgil, it is because he has stolen some feathers from their wings.

Calumny crosses oceans, scales mountains and traverses deserts, with greater ease than the Scythian Abaris, and like him, rides upon a poisoned arrow.

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.

No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.

Expect not praise without envy until you are dead.

Wealth after all is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more.

Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.