People of our time are so formed for agitation and ostentation that goodness, moderation, equability, constancy, and such quiet and obscure qualities are no longer felt.

It is easier to write an indifferent poem than to understand a good one.

Others form man; I tell of him, and portray a particular one, very ill-formed, whom I should really make very different from whathe is if I had to fashion him over again. But now it is done.

Lying is a terrible vice, it testifies that one despises God, but fears men.

Obstinacy and heat in argument are surest proofs of folly. Is there anything so stubborn, obstinate, disdainful, contemplative, grave, or serious, as an ass?

The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things.

There is some shadow of delight and delicacy which smiles upon and flatters us even in the very lap of melancholy.