He had a head which statuaries loved to copy, and a foot the deformity of which the beggars in the streets mimicked.

Beards in olden times, were the emblems of wisdom and piety.

A vice sanctioned by the general opinion is merely a vice. The evil terminates in itself. A vice condemned by the general opinion produces a pernicious effect on the whole character. The former is a local malady; the latter, constitutional taint. When the reputation of the offender is lost, he too often flings the remainder of his virtue after it in despair.

The ascendency of the sacerdotal order was long the ascendency which naturally and properly belonged to intellectual superiority.

At present, the novels which we owe to English ladies form no small part of the literary glory of our country. No class of works is more honorably distinguished for fine observation, by grace, by delicate wit, by pure moral feeling.

[I can] scarcely write upon mathematics or mathematicians. Oh for words to express my abomination of the science.

The highest intellects, like the tops of mountains, are the first to catch and to reflect the dawn.