However evil men may be they dare not be openly hostile to virtue, and so when they want to attack it they pretend to find it spurious , or impute crimes to it.

Nothing is so capable of diminishing self-love as the observation that we disapprove at one time what we approve at another.

There are two things which Man cannot look at directly without flinching: the sun and death.

If it were not for poetry, few men would ever fall in love.

There is an excess both in happiness and misery above our power of sensation.

We often are consoled by our want of reason for misfortunes that reason could not have comforted.

Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much; yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.