But you think that it is time for me to have done with the world, and so I would if I could get into a better before I was called into the best, and not die here in a rage, like a poisoned rat in a hole.

There is nothing constant in this world but inconsistency.

Old men and comets have been reverenced for the same reason: their long beards, and pretences to foretell events.

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.

Power is no blessing in itself, except when it is used to protect the innocent.

'T is an old maxim in the schools, That flattery 's the food of fools; Yet now and then your men of wit Will condescend to take a bit.

Men of great parts are often unfortunate in the management of public business, because they are apt to go out of the common road by the quickness of their imagination.