Wouldst thou shut up the avenues of ill, Pay every debt as if God wrote the bill.

It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.

The great will not condescend to take anything seriously.

There is no luck in literary reputation. They who make up the final verdict upon every book are not the partial and noisy readers of the hour when it appears; but a court as of angels, a public not to be bribed, not to be entreated, and not to be overawed, decides upon every man's title to fame.

I find the Englishman to be him of all men who stands firmest in his shoes. They have in themselves what they value in their horses, mettle and bottom.

We stand against fate, as children stand up against the wall in their father's house, and notch their height from year to year. But when the boy grows to a man, and is master of the house, he pulls down that wall and builds it new and bigger.

Therefore is nature ever the ally of Religion: lends her all her pomp and riches to the religious sentiment.