The works of a person that begin immediately to decay, while those of him who plants begin directly to improve. In this, planting promises a more lasting pleasure than building; which, were it to remain in equal perfection, would at best begin to moulder and want repairs in imagination. Now trees have a circumstance that suits our taste, and that is annual variety.

Deference is the most complicate, the most indirect, and the most elegant of all compliments.

My banks they are furnish'd with bees, Whose murmur invites one to sleep.

A large retinue upon a small income, like a large cascade upon a small stream, tends to discover its tenuity.

Laws are generally found to be nets of such a texture, as the little creep through, the great break through, and the middle-sized are alone entangled in it.

Every good poet includes a critic, but the reverse is not true.

A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.