I consider him of no account who esteems himself just as the popular breath may chance to raise him.

The poet should seize the Particular, and he should, if there be anything sound in it, thus represent the Universal.

He is a man whom it is impossible to please, because he is never pleased with himself.

True love is love that stays constant for ever, whatever it's fortune; whether requited or scored, filled or sent empty away.

A man's name is not like a mantle which merely hangs about him...but a perfectly fitting garment, which, like the skin, has grown over him, at which one cannot rake and scrape without injuring the man himself.

Ye great teachers: listen to what you say!

Lamps make oil-spots and candles need snuffing; it is only the light of heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.