There is a peculiarity in the countenance, as everybody knows, which, though it cannot be described, is sure to betray the Englishman.

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

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

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.

It has been said that idleness is the parent of mischief, which is very true; but mischief itself is merely an attempt to escape from the dreary vacuum of idleness.

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

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.