We oftener say things because we can say them well, than because they are sound and reasonable.

I strove with none, for none was worth my strife. Nature I loved and, next to Nature, Art: I warm'd both hands before the fire of life; It sinks, and I am ready to depart.

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.

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

Men universally are ungrateful towards him who instructs them, unless, in the hours or in the intervals of instruction, he presents a sweet-cake to their self-love.

The heart that once has been bathed in love's pure fountain retains the pulse of youth forever.

The tomb is the pedestal of greatness. I make a distinction between God's great and the king's great.