What proposition is there respecting human nature which is absolutely and universally true? We know of only one,--and that is not only true, but identical,--that men always act from self-interest.

Boswell is the first of biographers.

In order that he might rob a neighbour whom he had promised to defend, black men fought on the coast of Coromandel and red men scalped each other by the great lakes of North America.

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

The business of the dramatist is to keep himself out of sight, and to let nothing appear but his characters. As soon as he attracts notice to his personal feelings, the illusion is broken.

I am always nearest to myself," says the Latin proverb.

The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.