I have always been a friend to hero-worship; it is the only rational one, and has always been in use amongst civilized people - the worship of spirits is synonymous with barbarism - it is mere fetish. ... There is something philosophic in the worship of the heroes of the human race.

Two great talkers will not travel far together.

Sherry...a silly, sickly compound, the use of which will transform a nation, however bold and warlike by nature, into a race of sketchers, scribblers, and punsters, in fact into what Englishmen are at the present day.

Youth will be served, every dog has his day, and mine has been a fine one.

There are no countries in the world less known by the British than those selfsame British Islands.

Next to the love of God, the love of country is the best preventive of crime.

A losing trade, I assure you, sir: literature is a drug.