To be a really good historian is perhaps the rarest of intellectual distinctions.

How it chanced that a man who reasoned on his premises so ably, should assume his premises so foolishly, is one of the great mysteries of human nature.

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

I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read.

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

Thus, then, stands the case. It is good, that authors should be remunerated; and the least exceptionable way of remunerating them is by a monopoly. Yet monopoly is an evil. For the sake of the good we must submit to the evil; but the evil ought not to last a day longer than is necessary for the purpose of securing the good.

What society wants is a new motive, not a new cant.