In youth, it is common to measure right and wrong by the opinion of the world, and in age, to act without any measure but interest, and to lose shame without substituting virtue.

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.

Peevishness may be considered the canker of life, that destroys its vigor and checks its improvement; that creeps on with hourly depredations, and taints and vitiates what it cannot consume.

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

Words too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet. From those sounds which we hear on small or on coarse occasions, we do not easily receive strong impressions, or delightful images; and words to which we are nearly strangers, whenever they occur, draw that attention on themselves which they should transmit to other things.

To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the duties of friendship.

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.