Greatness of soul consists not so much in soaring high and in pressing forward, as in knowing how to adapt and limit oneself.

Whoever will be cured of ignorance, let him confess it.

Hath God obliged himself not to exceed the bounds of our knowledge?

Lawyers and physicians are an ill provision for any country.

Men of simple understanding, little inquisitive and little instructed, make good Christians.

We have more poets than judges and interpreters of poetry. It is easier to write an indifferent poem than to understand a good one. There is, indeed, a certain low and moderate sort of poetry, that a man may well enough judge by certain rules of art; but the true, supreme, and divine poesy is equally above all rules and reason. And whoever discerns the beauty of it with the most assured and most steady sight sees no more than the quick reflection of a flash of lightning.

We commend a horse for his strength, and sureness of foot, and not for his rich caparisons; a greyhound for his share of heels, not for his fine collar; a hawk for her wing, not for her jesses and bells. Why, in like manner, do we not value a man for what is properly his own? He has a great train, a beautiful palace, so much credit, so many thousand pounds a year, and all these are about him, but not in him.