Desert being the essential condition of praise, there can be no reality in the one without the other.
The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.
No man knows himself as an original.
Never expect justice from a vain man; if he has the negative magnanimity not to disparage you, it is the most you can expect.
He who has no pleasure in looking up, is not fit so much as to look down.
Selfishness in art, as in other things, is sensibility kept at home.