One truth discovered, one pang of regret at not being able to express it, is better than all the fluency and flippancy in the world.

The assumption of merit is easier, less embarrassing, and more effectual than the actual attainment of it.

Mankind are so ready to bestow their admiration on the dead, because the latter do not hear it, or because it gives no pleasure to the objects of it. Even fame is the offspring of envy.

I have a much greater ambition to be the best racket player than the best prose writer.

The most fluent talkers or most plausible reasoners are not always the justest thinkers.

The more a man writes, the more he can write.

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