The art of conversation, or the qualification for a good companion, is a certain self-control, which now holds the subject, now lets it go, with a respect for the emergencies of the moment.

In the Greek cities, it was reckoned profane, that any person should pretend a property in a work of art, which belonged to all who could behold it.

This valley is the only place that comes up to the brag about it, and exceeds it.

If you would not be known to do anything, never do it.

Every man is actually weak, and apparently strong. To himself, he seems weak; to others, formidable.

If the king is in the palace, nobody looks at the walls. It is when he is gone, and the house is filled with grooms and gazers, that we turn from the people, to find relief in the majestic men that are suggested by the pictures and the architecture.

The secret of fortune is joy in our hands.