Jesters do often prove prophets.

There is nobody so weak of invention that cannot make some little stories to villify his enemy.

Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth.

There is nothing that more betrays a base ungenerous spirit than the giving of secret stabs to a man's reputation. Lampoons and satires that are written with wit and spirit are like poisoned darts, which not only inflict a wound, but make it incurable.

The greatest parts, without discretion as observed by an elegant writer, may be fatal to their owner; as Polyphemus, deprived of his eyes, was only the more exposed on account of his enormous strength and stature.

Young men soon give, and soon forget, affronts; old age is slow in both.

There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.