Sir, you must not neglect doing a thing immediately good from fear of remote evil; - from fear of its being abused.

Lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed.

Norway, too, has noble prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England!

The purpose of a writer is to be read, and the criticism which would destroy the power of pleasing must be blown aside

The balls of sight are so formed, that one man's eyes are spectacles to another, to read his heart with.

Commerce however we may please ourselves with the contrary opinion, is one of the daughters of fortune, inconstant and deceitful as her mother. She chooses her residence where she is least expected, and shifts her abode when her continuance is, in appearance, most firmly settled.

Why, sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in Nature.