Some people wave their dogmatic thinking until their own reason is entangled.

He that compares what he has done with what he has left undone, will feel the effect which must always follow the comparison of imagination with reality; he will look with contempt on his own unimportance, and wonder to what purpose he came into the world; he will repine that he shall leave behind him no evidence of his having been, that he has added nothing to the system of life, but has glided from youth to age among the crowd, without any effort for distinction.

To be flattered is grateful, even when we know that our praises are not believed by those who pronounce them; for they prove, at least, our power, and show that our favour is valued, since it is purchased by the meanness of falsehood.

Contempt is a kind of gangrene which, if it seizes one part of a character, corrupts all the rest by degrees.

To build is to be robbed.

You teach your daughters the diameters of the planets and wonder when you are done that they do not delight in your company.

Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well.