I hate a style, as I do a garden, that is wholly flat and regular; that slides along like an eel, and never rises to what one can call an inequality.

It should seem that indolence itself would incline a person to be honest, as it requires infinitely greater pains and contrivance to be a knave.

What leads to unhappiness is making pleasure the chief aim.

Amid the most mercenary ages it is but a secondary sort of admiration that is bestowed upon magnificence.

People can commend the weather without envy.

However, I think a plain space near the eye gives it a kind of liberty it loves; and then the picture, whether you choose the grand or beautiful, should be held up at its proper distance. Variety is the principal ingredient in beauty; and simplicity is essential to grandeur.

Nothing is sure in London, except expense.