If we wish to know the force of human genius, we should read Shakespeare. If we wish to see the insignificance of human learning, we may study his commentators.

The mind of man is like a clock that is always running down, and requires to be constantly wound up.

When you find out a man's ruling passion, beware of crossing him in it.

The most sensible people to be met with in society are men of business and of the world, who argue from what they see and know, instead of spinning cobweb distinctions of what things ought to be.

Well I've had a happy life.

There is nothing more to be esteemed than a manly firmness and decision of character.

Language, if it throws a veil over our ideas, adds a softness and refinement to them, like that which the atmosphere gives to naked objects.