I feel my sinews slackened with the fright, and a cold sweat trills down all over my limbs, as if I were dissolving into water.

But far more numerous was the herd of such, Who think too little, and who talk too much.

For those whom God to ruin has design'd, He fits for fate, and first destroys their mind.

None but the brave deserve the fair.

Mere poets are sottish as mere drunkards are, who live in a continual mist, without seeing or judging anything clearly. A man should be learned in several sciences, and should have a reasonable, philosophical and in some measure a mathematical head, to be a complete and excellent poet.

Discover the opinion of your enemies, which is commonly the truest; for they will give you no quarter, and allow nothing to complaisance.

Set all things in their own peculiar place, and know that order is the greatest grace.