A continual feast of commendation is only to be obtained by merit or by wealth: many are therefore obliged to content themselves with single morsels, and recompense the infrequency of their enjoyment by excess and riot, whenever fortune sets the banquet before them.

Most minds are the slaves of external circumstances, and conform to any hand that undertakes to mould them.

The heroes of literary history have been no less remarkable for what they have suffered than for what they have achieved.

They who have already enjoyed the crowds and noise of the great city, know their desire to return is little more than the restlessness of a vacant mind, that they are not so much led by hope as driven by disgust, and wish rather to leave the country than to see the town.

Composition is for the most part an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is every moment starting to more delightful amusements.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

A family ... is a little kingdom, torn with factions and exposed to revolutions.