A scholar is like a book written in a dead language. It is not every one that can read in it.

Nothing precludes sympathy so much as a perfect indifference to it

We are cold to others only when we are dull in ourselves.

The person whose doors I enter with most pleasure, and quit with most regret, never did me the smallest favor.

Society is a more level surface than we imagine. Wise men or absolute fools are hard to be met with, as there are few giants or dwarfs.

Even in the common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others!

Wonder at the first sight of works of art may be the effect of ignorance and novelty; but real admiration and permanent delight in them are the growth of taste and knowledge.