Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality.

A great chessplayer is not a great man, for he leaves the world as he found it.

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

We can bear to be deprived of everything but our self-conceit.

To display the greatest powers, unless they are applied to great purposes, makes nothing for the character of greatness.

Art is the microscope of the mind, which sharpens the wit as the other does the sight; and converts every object into a little universe in itself. Art may be said to draw aside the veil from nature. To those who are perfectly unskilled in the practice, unimbued with the principles of art, most objects present only a confused mass.

The art of pleasing consists in being pleased.