The bravest men are subject most to chance.

But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand, And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.

For my part, I can compare her (a gossip) to nothing but the sun; for, like him, she knows no rest, nor ever sets in one place but to rise in another.

Great souls forgive not injuries till time has put their enemies within their power, that they may show forgiveness is their own.

Confidence is the feeling we have before knowing all the facts

Since a true knowledge of nature gives us pleasure, a lively imitation of it, either in poetry or painting, must produce a much greater; for both these arts are not only true imitations of nature, but of the best nature.

Heroic poetry has ever been esteemed the greatest work of human nature.