Such night in England ne'er had been, nor ne'er again shall be.

A dominant religion is never ascetic.

The effective strength of sects is not to be ascertained merely by counting heads.

In truth it may be laid down as an almost universal rule that good poets are bad critics.

Finesse is the best adaptation of means to circumstances.

A man possessed of splendid talents, which he often abused, and of a sound judgment, the admonitions of which he often neglected; a man who succeeded only in an inferior department of his art, but who in that department succeeded pre-eminently.

Scotland by no means escaped the fate ordained for every country which is connected, but not incorporated, with another country of greater resources.