You cannot give me an instance of any man who is permitted to lay out his own time contriving not to have tedious hours.

Everything that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shows man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable.

The two offices of memory are collection and distribution.

The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition to rely wholly upon unassisted genius and natural sagacity. The wits of these happy days have discovered a way to fame, which the dull caution of our laborious ancestors durst never attempt; they cut the knots of sophistry, which it was formerly the business of years to untie, solve difficulties by sudden irradiations of intelligence, and comprehend long processes of argument by immediate intuition.

Fine clothes are good only as they supply the want of other means of procuring respect.

No knowledge is useless, with the exception of heraldry.

A quibble is to Shakespeare what luminous vapours are to the traveller: he follows it at all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way and sure to engulf him in the mire.