Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.

He who can wait for what he desires takes the course not to be exceedingly grieved if he fails of it; he, on the contrary, who labors after a thing too impatiently thinks the success when it comes is not a recompense equal to all the pains he has been at about it.

Life at court does not satisfy a man, but it keeps him from being satisfied with anything else.

The pleasure we feel in criticizing robs us from being moved by very beautiful things.

There is nothing which continues longer than a moderate fortune; nothing of which one sees sooner the end than a large fortune.

The duty of a judge is to administer justice, but his practice is to delay it

A man of moderate Understanding, thinks he writes divinely: A man of good Understanding, thinks he writes reasonably.