Poetry is only the highest eloquence of passion, the most vivid form of expression that can be given to our conception of anything, whether pleasurable or painful, mean or dignified, delightful or distressing. It is the perfect coincidence of the image and the words with the feeling we have, and of which we cannot get rid in any other way, that gives an instant "satisfaction to the thought." This is equally the origin of wit and fancy, of comedy and tragedy, of the sublime and pathetic.

It is well there is no one without fault; for he would not have a friend in the world. He would seem to belong to s different species.

A man's reputation is not in his own keeping, but lies at the mercy of the profligacy of others. Calumny requires no proof.

We grow tired of everything but turning others into ridicule, and congratulating ourselves on their defects.

Of all eloquence a nickname is the most concise; of all arguments the most unanswerable.

The way to procure insults is to submit to them. A man meets with no more respect than he exacts.

The severest critics are always those who have either never attempted, or who have failed in original composition.