There are some faults so nearly allied to excellence that we can scarce weed out the vice without eradicating the virtue.

Whatever be the motives which induce men to write,--whether avarice or fame,--the country becomes more wise and happy in which they most serve for instructors.

So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar, But bind him to his native mountains more.

All the sciences are, in some measure, linked with each other, and before the one is ended, the other begins.

The way to acquire lasting esteem is not by the fewness of a writer's faults, but the greatness of his beauties, and our noblest works are generally most replete with both.

Pity, though it may often relieve, is but, at best, a short-lived passion, and seldom affords distress more than transitory assistance; with some it scarce lasts from the first impulse till the hand can be put into the pocket.

Aromatic plants bestow no spicy fragrance while they grow; but crush'd or trodden to the ground, diffuse their balmy sweets around.