A fig for partridges and quails, ye dainties I know nothing of ye; But on the highest mount in Wales Would choose in peace to drink my coffee.

What vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken me, although I am not so old in proportion to them as I formerly was: which I can prove by arithmetic, for then I was double their age, which now I am not. Letter to Alexander Pope. 7 Feb. 1736.

Such a man, truly wise, creams off Nature leaving the sour and the dregs for philosophy and reason to lap up.

Ah, a German and a genius ! A prodigy, admit him !

It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues.

The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.

There are few wild beasts more to be dreaded than a talking man having nothing to say.