Men who cherish for women the highest respect are seldom popular with them.

The most exquisite words and finest strokes of an author are those which very often appear the most doubtful and exceptionable to a man who wants a relish for polite learning; and they are those which a sour undistinguishing critic generally attacks with the greatest violence.

Sir Francis Bacon observed that a well-written book, compared with its rivals and antagonists, is like Moses' serpent, that immediately swallowed up and devoured those of the Egyptians.

Nothing lies on our hands with such uneasiness as time. Wretched and thoughtless creatures! In the only place where covetousness were a virtue we turn prodigals.

We make provisions for this life as if it were never to have an end, and for the other life as though it were never to have a beginning.

One may know a man that never conversed in the world, by his excess of good-breeding.

Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible.