Merit has rarely risen of itself, but a pebble or a twig is often quite sufficient for it to spring from to the highest ascent. There is usually some baseness before there is any elevation.

Two evils, of almost equal weight, may befall the man of erudition; never to be listened to, and to be listened to always.

My thoughts are my company; I can bring them together, select them, detain them, dismiss them.

Nations, like individuals, interest us in their growth.

The moderate are not usually the most sincere, for the same circumspection which makes them moderate makes them likewise retentive of what could give offence.

The spirit of Greece, passing through and ascending above the world, hath so animated universal nature, that the very rocks and woods, the very torrents and wilds burst forth with it.

What is reading but silent conversation?