What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.

He that writes may be considered as a kind of general challenger, whom every one has a right to attack; since he quits the common rank of life, steps forward beyond the lists, and offers his merit to the public judgement. To commence author is to claim praise, and no man can justly aspire to honour, but at the hazard of disgrace.

The truth is that the spectators are always in their senses, and know, from the first act to the last, that the stage is only a stage, and that the players are only players.

Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.

I look upon this as I did upon the Dictionary: it is all work, and my inducement to it is not love or desire of fame, but the want of money, which is the only motive to writing that I know of.