“The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit.”

In clothes as well as speech, the man of sense Will shun all these extremes that give offense, Dress unaffectedly, and, without haste, Follow the changes in the current taste.

We are all mortals, and each is for himself.

Great is the fortune of he who possesses a good bottle, a good book, and a good friend.

unbroken happiness is a bore: it should have ups and downs.

Gold gives to the ugliest thing a certain charming air, For that without it were else a miserable affair.

No reason makes it right To shun accepted ways from stubborn spite; And we may better join the foolish crowd Than cling to wisdom, lonely though unbowed.

Tobacco is the passion of honest men and he who lives without tobacco is not worthy of living.

Long is the road from conception to completion.

I recover my property wherever I find it.

There is no reward so delightful, no pleasure so exquisite, as having one’s work known and acclaimed by those whose applause confers honor.

Everything that’s prose isn’t verse and everything that isn’t verse is prose. Now you see what it is to be a scholar!

Sometimes I feel something akin to rage At the corrupted morals of this age!

Sharing with Jupiter is never a dishonor.

With a smile we should instruct our youth.

People don’t mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous.

Birth is nothing where virtue is not.

In a world in which time is a circle, every handshake, every kiss, every birth, every word, will be repeated precisely.

I will not allow a Delia Smith cookbook in my house! It’s all so precise with Delia, and it makes cooking seem so inaccessible.

The precise place where you would expect to see the least.

I’m not good at precise, coherent argument. But plays are suited to incoherent argument, put into the mouths of fallible people.

Differ though we might with Christianity’s view of what precisely our souls need, it is hard to discredit the provocative underlying thesis.

I’m very analytical, I’m very precise.

I’m very analytical, I’m very precise. I mean, I don’t write for kids.

At that precise moment, several countries were still colonised or had barely overcome colonisation. This was the case in practically all of Africa. We supported them.