To be perfectly original one should think much and read little, and this is impossible, for one must have read before one has learnt to think.

Though sages may pour out their wisdom's treasure, there is no sterner moralist than pleasure.

America is a model of force and freedom and moderation - with all the coarseness and rudeness of its people.

For all we know that English people are/ Fed upon beef - I won't say much of beer/ Because 'tis liquor only, and being far/ From this my subject, has no business here;/ We know too, they are very fond of war,/ A pleasure - like all pleasures - rather dear;/ So were the Cretans - from which I infer/ That beef and battle both were owing her

What should I have known or written had I been a quiet, mercantile politician or a lord in waiting? A man must travel, and turmoil, or there is no existence.

Romances I ne'er read like those I have seen.

The great object of life is Sensation - to feel that we exist - even though in pain - it is this "craving void" which drives us to gaming - to battle - to travel - to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.