Defaced ruins of architecture and statuary, like the wrinkles of decrepitude of a once beautiful woman, only make one regret that one did not see them when they were enchanting.
A careless song, with a little nonsense in it now and then, does not mis-become a monarch.
Mystery is the wisdom of blockheads.
It was said of old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, that she never puts dots over her I s, to save ink.
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform – They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent.
I never found even in my juvenile hours that it was necessary to go a thousand miles in search of themes for moralizing.
How well Shakespeare knew how to improve and exalt little circumstances, when he borrowed them from circumstantial or vulgar historians.
Alexander at the head of the world never tasted the true pleasure that boys of his own age have enjoyed at the head of a school.
I do not admire politicians; but when they are excellent in their way, one cannot help allowing them their due.
By deafness one gains in one respect more than one loses; one misses more nonsense than sense.
A tragedy can never suffer by delay: a comedy may, because the allusions or the manners represented in it maybe temporary.
If a passion for freedom is not in vogue, patriots may sound the alarm till they are weary. The Act of Habeas Corpus, by which prisoners may insist on being brought to trial within a limited time, is the corner stone of our liberty.
When Shakespeare copied chroniclers verbatim, it was because he knew they were good enough for his audiences. In a more polished age he who could so move our passions, could surely have performed the easier task of satisfying our taste.
Shakespeare had no tutors but nature and genius. He caught his faults from the bad taste of his contemporaries. In an age still less civilized Shakespeare might have been wilder, but would not have been vulgar.
Lord Bath used to say of women, who are apt to say that they will follow their own judgment, that they could not follow a worse guide.
The contempt of money is no more a virtue than to wash one’s hand is one; but one does not willingly shake hands with a man that never washes his.
Every drop of ink in my pen ran cold.
I have known men of valor cowards to their wives.
I look upon paradoxes as the impotent efforts of men who, not having capacity to draw attention and celebrity from good sense, fly to eccentricities to make themselves noted.
Had I children, my utmost endeavors would be to make them musicians.