I am persuaded that foolish writers and foolish readers are created for each other; and that fortune provides readers as she does mates for ugly women.
The curse of modern times is, that almost everything does create controversy.
It is difficult to divest one’s self of vanity; because impossible to divest one’s self of self-love.
Oh, we are ridiculous animals; and if the angels have any fun in them, how we must divert them!
This world is a comedy, not Life.
Without grace no book can live, and with it the poorest may have its life prolonged.
Art is the filigrain of a little mind, and is twisted and involved and curled, but would reach farther if laid out in a straight line.
It was easier to conquer it than to know what to do with it.
Let the French but have England, and they won’t want to conquer it.
The way to ensure summer in England is to have it framed and glazed in a comfortable room.
Who has begun has half done. Have the courage to be wise. Begin!
In science, mistakes always precede the truth.
I can forgive injuries, but never benefits.
The wisest prophets make sure of the event first.
I firmly believe, notwithstanding all our complaints, that almost every person upon earth tastes upon the totality more happiness than misery.
I do not dislike the French from the vulgar antipathy between neighboring nations, but for their insolent and unfounded air of superiority.
I shun authors, and would never have been one myself, if it obliged me to keep such bad company.
Serendipitous discoveries are made by chance, found without looking for them but possible only through a sharp vision and sagacity, ready to see the unexpected and never indulgent with the apparently unexplainable.
Life is a farce, and should not end with a mourning scene.
I avoid talking before the youth of the age as I would dancing before them: for if one’s tongue don’t move in the steps of the day, and thinks to please by its old graces, it is only an object of ridicule.