Distance either of time or place is sufficient to reconcile weak minds to wonderful relations.

I know not any crime so great that a man could contrive to commit as poisoning the sources of eternal truth.

It is our first duty to serve society.

It is a maxim that no man was ever enslaved by influence while he was fit to be free.

I do not much wish well to discoveries, for I am always afraid they will end in conquest and robbery.

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

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.