My father had a small Estate in Nottinghamshire; I was the Third of five Sons.

Story-telling is subject to two unavoidable defects,--frequent repetition and being soon exhausted; so that, whoever values this gift in himself, has need of a good memory, and ought frequently to shift his company.

I won't quarrel with my bread and butter.

Poor nations are hungry, and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance.

A poor spirit is poorer than a poor purse. A very few pounds a year would ease a man of the scandal of avarice.

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.

I can discover no political evil in suffering bullies, sharpers, and rakes, to rid the world of each other by a method of their own; where the law hath not been able to find an expedient.