Learning is, in too many cases, but a foil to common sense; a substitute for true knowledge. Books are less often made use of as spectacles to look at nature with, than as blinds to keep out its strong light and shifting scenery from weak eyes and indolent dispositions. The learned are mere literary drudges.

No one ever approaches perfection except by stealth, and unknown to themselves.

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

The humblest painter is a true scholar; and the best of scholars the scholar of nature.

The difference between the vanity of a Frenchman and an Englishman seems to be this: the one thinks everything right that is French, the other thinks everything wrong that is not English.

There are no rules for friendship. It must be left to itself. We cannot force it any more than love.

I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me