What we hear strikes the mind with less force than what we see.

To have begun is half the job; be bold and be sensible.

Nos numeros sumus et fruges consumere nati. We are but ciphers, born to consume earth's fruits.

There is a fault common to all singers. When they're among friends and are asked to sing they don't want to, and when they're not asked to sing they never stop.

It is your business when the wall next door catches fire.

The secret of all good writing is sound judgment.

The aim of the poet is to inform or delight, or to combine together, in what he says, both pleasure and applicability to life. In instructing, be brief in what you say in order that your readers may grasp it quickly and retain it faithfully. Superfluous words simply spill out when the mind is already full. Fiction invented in order to please should remain close to reality.