There never appear more than five or six men of genius in an age, but if they were united the world could not stand before them.

Perpetual aiming at wit is a very bad part of conversation. It is done to support a character: it generally fails; it is a sort of insult on the company, and a restraint upon the speaker.

No wise man ever wished to be younger.

A true critic, in the perusal of a book, is like a dog at a feast, whose thoughts and stomach are wholly set upon what the guests fling away, and consequently is apt to snarl most when there are the fewest bones.

There were many times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.

When a man is made a spiritual peer he loses his surname; when a temporal, his Christian name.

No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us the same train and turn of thought that elder people have in vain tried to put into our heads before.