Be assured that, although men of eminent genius have been guilty of all other vices, none worthy of more than a secondary name has ever been a gamester. Either an excess of avarice or a deficiency of what, in physics, is called excitability, is the cause of it; neither of which can exist in the same bosom with genius, with patriotism, or with virtue.

I never did a single wise thing in the whole course of my existence, although I have written many which have been thought so.

It appears to be among the laws of nature, that the mighty of intellect should be pursued and carped by the little, as the solitary flight of one great bird is followed by the twittering petulance of many smaller.

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

No ashes are lighter than those of incense, and few things burn out sooner.

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

A man's vanity tells him what is honor, a man's conscience what is justice.