In plain truth, lying is an accursed vice. We are not men, nor have any other tie upon another, but by our word.

The curiosity of knowing things has been given to man for a scourge.

Whatever I may be, I want to be elsewhere than on paper. My art and my industry have been employed in making myself good for something; my studies, in teaching me to do, not to write. I have put all my efforts into forming my life. That is my trade and my work.

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

The body enjoys a great share in our being, and has an eminent place in it. Its structure and composition, therefore, are worthy of proper consideration.

There is a sort of gratification in doing good which makes us rejoice in ourselves.

Poetry reproduces an indefinable mood that is more amorous than love itself. Venus is not so beautiful all naked, alive, and panting, as she is here in Virgil.