Satire is, indeed, the only sort of composition in which the Latin poets whose works have come down to us were not mere imitators of foreign models; and it is therefore the sort of composition in which they have never been excelled.

Grief, which disposes gentle natures to retirement, to inaction, and to meditation, only makes restless spirits more restless.

Facts are the mere dross of history. It is from the abstract truth which interpenetrates them, and lies latent among them, like gold in the ore, that the mass derives its whole value; and the precious particles are generally combined with the baser in such a manner that the separation is a task of the utmost difficulty.

Even the law of gravitation would be brought into dispute were there a pecuniary interest involved.

Even Holland and Spain have been positively, though not relatively, advancing.

We are free, we are civilised, to little purpose, if we grudge to any portion of the human race an equal measure of freedom and civilisation.

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