I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice.

There is in this world no real delight (excepting those of sensuality), but exchange of ideas in conversation.

He who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation, or has any other effect than that of producing a moral sentence or peevish exclamation.

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

Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is repaid in flattery.

It may be laid down as a position which seldom deceives, that when a man cannot bear his own company, there is something wrong.

So scanty is our present allowance of happiness that in many situations life could scarcely be supported if hope were not allowed to relieve the present hour by pleasures borrowed from the future.