Libraries are as the shrine where all the relics of the ancient saints, full of true virtue, and that without delusion or imposture, are preserved and reposed.

For behavior, men learn it, as they take diseases, one of another.

The worst solitude is to have no real friendships.

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.

All painting is an accident. But it's also not an accident, because one must select what part of the accident one chooses to preserve.

Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.

There is no passion in the mind of man so weak, but it mates and masters the fear of death . . . Revenge triumphs over death; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it.