To be remembered after we are dead, is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.

A man who does not endeavour to seem more than he is will generally be thought nothing of. We habitually make such large deductions for pretence and imposture that no real merit will stand against them. It is necessary to set off our good qualities with a certain air of plausibility and self-importance, as some attention to fashion is necessary.

The essence of poetry is will and passion.

Affectation is as necessary to the mind as dress is to the body.

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

The world judge of men by their ability in their profession, and we judge of ourselves by the same test: for it is on that on which our success in life depends.

Our energy is in proportion to the resistance it meets.