Tis the established custom [in Vienna] for every lady to have two husbands, one that bears the name, and another that performs the duties.

I have never had any great esteem for the generality of the fair sex, and my only consolation for being of that gender has been the assurance it gave me of never being married to any one among them.

I am afraid we are little better than straws upon the water; we may flatter ourselves that we swim, when the current carries us along.

We should ask, not who is the most learned, but who is the best learned.

Only a mother knows a mother's fondness.

It is the common error of builders and parents to follow some plan they think beautiful (and perhaps is so) without considering that nothing is beautiful that is misplaced.

My dear Smollett ... disgraces his talent by writing those stupid romances called history.