Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most.

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

I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.

Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue.

Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen.

No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had

It is as bad as bad can be: it is ill-fed, ill-killed, ill-kept, and ill-drest.