A word spoken is a terrible thing when it suddenly utters what the heart has long allowed.

How many years must a man do nothing, before he can at all know what is to be done and how to do it!

How to please the public - that's the test, But nowadays I find I'm in a fix; I know they're not accustomed to the best, But they've all read so much they know the tricks. How can we give then something fresh and new That's serious, but entertaining too?

Most man only care for science so far as they get a living by it, and that they worship even error when it affords them a subsistence.

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.

There is but one poetry,--true poetry.

Some books seem to have been written, not to teach us anything, but to let us know that the author has known something.