The false is nothing but an imitation of the true.

Every generous action loves the public view; yet no theatre for virtue is equal to a consciousness of it.

Life is short, but art lives forever.

For one day spent well, and agreeably to your precepts, is preferable to an eternity of error.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

That which is usually called dotage is not the weak point of all old men, but only of such as are distinguished by their levity.

When I consider the wonderful activity of the mind, so great a memory of what is past, and such a capacity of penetrating into the future: when I behold such a number of arts and sciences, and such a multitude of discoveries hence arising,--I believe and am firmly persuaded that a nature which contains so many things within itself cannot be mortal.