He who expects from a great name in politics, in philosophy, in art, equal greatness in other things, is little versed in human nature. Our strength lies in our weakness. The learned in books are ignorant of the world. He who is ignorant of books is often well acquainted with other things; for life is of the same length in the learned and unlearned; the mind cannot be idle; if it is not taken up with one thing, it attends to another through choice or necessity; and the degree of previous capacity in one class or another is a mere lottery.

The most silent people are generally those who think most highly of themselves.

People are not soured by misfortune, but by the reception they meet with in it.

The characteristic of Chaucer is intensity: of Spencer, remoteness: of Milton elevation and of Shakespeare everything.

The number of objects we see from living in a large city amuses the mind like a perpetual raree-show, without supplying it with any ideas.

We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it.

Repose is as necessary in conversation as in a picture.