It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.

Wretched un-idea'd girls.

Friendship is seldom lasting but between equals, or where the superiority on one side is reduced by some equivalent advantage on the other.

The essence of poetry is invention; such invention as, by producing something unexpected, surprises and delights.

Sir, sorrow is inherent in humanity. As you cannot judge two and two to be either five, or three, but certainly four, so, when comparing a worse present state with a better which is past, you cannot but feel sorrow. It is not cured by reason, but by the incursion of present objects, which bear out the past.

Friendship may well deserve the sacrifice of pleasure, though not of conscience.

Nobody can be taught faster than he can learn.