Works of imagination excel by their allurement and delight; by their power of attracting and detaining the attention. That book is good in vain which the reader throws away. He only is the master who keeps the mind in pleasing captivity; whose pages are perused with eagerness, and in hope of new pleasure are perused again; and whose conclusion is perceived with an eye of sorrow, such as the traveller casts upon departing day.

Corneille is to Shakespeare as a clipped hedge is to a forest.

No cause more frequently produces bashfulness than too high an opinion of our own importance. He that imagines an assembly filled with his merit, panting with expectation, and hushed with attention, easily terrifies himself with the dread of disappointing them, and strains his imagination in pursuit of something that may vindicate the veracity of fame, and show that his reputation was not gained by chance.

Change is not made without inconvenience.

I am sorry I have not learnt to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness, and consolidates society.

Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.