Reform is a work of time; a national taste, however wrong it may be, cannot be totally changed at once.

The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.

A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great.

Common observation and a plain understanding is the source of all art.

Invention strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory; nothing can come from nothing.

Taste depends upon those finer emotions which make the organization of the soul.

Could we teach taste or genius by rules, they would be no longer taste and genius.