To scatter praise or blame without regard to justice is to destroy the distinction of good and evil. Many have no other test of actions than general opinion; and all are so far influenced by a sense of reputation that they are often restrained by fear of reproach, and excited by hope of honour, when other principles have lost their power.

Falsehood always endeavors to copy the mien and attitude of truth.

The vicious count their years; virtuous, their acts.

Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients.

There is no idleness, by which we are so easily seduced, as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business, and by making the loiterer imagine that he has something to do which must not be neglected, keeps him in perpetual agitation, and hurries him rapidly from place to place.

Nothing concentrates one's mind so much as the realization that one is going to be hanged in the morning!

Pain is less subject than pleasure to careless expression.