“The perfection of art is to conceal art.”

He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.

Fear of the future is worse than one’s present fortune.

The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity.

That which prematurely arrives at perfection soon perishes.

Conscience is a thousand witnesses.

God, that all-powerful Creator of nature and architect of the world, has impressed man with no character so proper to distinguish him from other animals, as by the faculty of speech.

Men of quality are in the wrong to undervalue, as they often do, the practise of a fair and quick hand in writing; for it is no immaterial accomplishment.

One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy.

A liar should have a good memory.

She abounds with lucious faults.

Too exact, and studious of similitude rather than of beauty.

Those who wish to appear wise among fools, among the wise seem foolish.

Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.

For all the best teachers pride themselves on having a large number of pupils and think themselves worthy of a bigger audience.

Ambition is a vice, but it may be the father of virtue.

The mind is exercised by the variety and multiplicity of the subject matter, while the character is moulded by the contemplation of virtue and vice.