The gratification of curiosity rather frees us from uneasiness than confers pleasure; we are more pained by ignorance than delighted by instruction. Curiosity is the thirst of the soul; it inflames and torments us, and makes us taste every thing with joy, however otherwise insipid, by which it may be quenched.

I have all my life long been lying in bed till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.

A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him.

By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.

Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach.

You may translate books of science exactly. ... The beauties of poetry cannot be preserved in any language except that in which it was originally written.

It was the maxim, I think, of Alphonsus of Aragon, that dead counsellors are safest. The grave puts an end to flattery and artifice, and the information we receive from books is pure from interest, fear, and ambition. Dead counsellors are likewise most instructive, because they are heard with patience and with reverence.