Lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed.

One of the most pernicious effects of haste is obscurity.

Norway, too, has noble prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England!

This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.

I fancy mankind may come, in time, to write all aphoristically, except in narrative; grow weary of preparation, and connection, and illustration, and all those arts by which a big book is made.

The natural progress of the works of men is from rudeness to convenience, from convenience to elegance, and from elegance to nicety.

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.