I wish to write such rhymes as shall not suggest a restraint, but contrariwise the wildest freedom.

A man is a little thing whilst he works by and for himself, but, when he gives voice to the rules of love and justice, is godlike, his word is current in all countries; and all men, though his enemies, are made his friends and obey it as their own.

A man known to us only as a celebrity in politics or in trade, gains largely in our esteem if we discover that he has some intellectual taste or skill.

The reliance on authority measures the decline of religion, the withdrawal of the soul.

If you act, you show character; if you sit still, you show it; if you sleep you show it.

The noblest ministry of nature is to stand as the apparition of God.

Proportion is almost impossible to human beings. There is no one who does not exaggerate.