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.

His scorn of the great is repeated too often to be real; no man thinks much of that which he despises.

Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.

Good-humor is a state between gayety and unconcern,--the act or emanation of a mind at leisure to regard the gratification of another.

The end of writing is to instruct; the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing.

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself.

A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.