The definition of good prose is proper words in their proper places; of good verse, the most proper words in their proper places.The propriety is in either case relative. The words in prose ought to express the intended meaning, and no more; if they attract attention to themselves, it is, in general, a fault.

Never can true courage dwell with them, Who, playing tricks with conscience, dare not look At their own vices.

A grief without a pang, void, dark and drear, A drowsy, stifled, unimpassioned grief, Which finds no natural outlet or relief, In word, or sigh, or tear.

Genius of the highest kind implies an unusual intensity of the modifying power.

Works of imagination should be written in very plain language; the more purely imaginative they are the more necessary it is to be plain.

The Language of the Dream/Night is contrary to that of Waking/Day. It is a language of Images and Sensations, the various dialects of which are far less different from each other, than the various Day-Languages of Nations.

Real pain can alone cure us of imaginary ills. We feel a thousand miseries till we are lucky enough to feel misery.