If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than it was because he was he, and I was I.

There never were, in the world, two opinions alike, no more than two hairs, or two grains; the most universal quality is diversity.

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 are never present with, but always beyond ourselves; fear, desire, hope, still push us on toward the future.

I give my opinion not as being good, but as being my own.

Necessity is a violent school-mistress.

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