God made the rose out of what was left of woman at the creation. The great difference is, we feel the rose's thorns when we gather it; and the other's when we have had it for some time.

Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.

Of all studies, the most delightful and the most useful is biography. The seeds of great events lie near the surface; historians delve too deep for them. No history was ever true. Lives I have read which, if they were not, had the appearance, the interest, and the utility of truth.

Truth, like the juice of the poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in larger, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal consequences in excess.

Study is the bane of childhood, the oil of youth, the indulgence of adulthood, and a restorative in old age.

O Music! how it grieves me that imprudence, intemperance, gluttony, should open their channels into thy sacred stream.

A critic is never too severe when he only detects the faults of an author. But he is worse than too severe when, in consequence of this detection, be presumes to place himself on a level with genius.