The great rule: If the little bit you have is nothing special in itself, at least find a way of saying it that is a little bit special.

As nations improve, so do their gods.

A clever child brought up with a foolish one can itself become foolish. Man is so perfectible and corruptible he can become a fool through good sense.

Do we write books so that they shall merely be read? Don't we also write them for employment in the household? For one that is read from start to finish, thousands are leafed through, other thousands lie motionless, others are jammed against mouseholes, thrown at rats, others are stood on, sat on, drummed on, have gingerbread baked on them or are used to light pipes.

I have never yet met anyone who did not think it was an agreeable sensation to cut tinfoil with scissors.

The celebrated painter Gainsborough got as much pleasure from seeing violins as from hearing them.

Do not say hypothesis, and even less theory: say way of thinking.