Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.

The hapless wit has his labors always to begin, the call for novelty is never satisfied, and one jest only raises expectation of another.

That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.

Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise.

The business of a poet is to examine not the individual but the species; to remark general properties and large appearances.

There must always be some advantage on one side or the other, and it is better that advantage should be had by talents than by chance.

People in general do not willingly read if they have anything else to amuse them.