There is no defence against reproach, but obscurity; it is a kind of concomitant to greatness, as satires and invectives were an essential part of a Roman triumph.

Mankind are more indebted to industry than ingenuity; the gods set up their favors at a price, and industry is the purchaser.

With what astonishment and veneration may we look into our own souls, where there are such hidden stores of virtue and knowledge, such inexhaustible sources of perfection. We know not yet what we shall be, nor will it ever enter into the heart to conceive the glory that will be always in reserve for it.

One of the most important but one of the most difficult things for a powerful mind is to be its own master.

Hudibras has defined nonsense, as Cowley does wit, by negatives. Nonsense, he says, is that which is neither true nor false. These two great properties of nonsense, which are always essential to it, give it such a peculiar advantage over all other writings, that it is incapable of being either answered or contradicted.

A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.

He only is a great man who can neglect the applause of the multitude and enjoy himself independent of its favor.