Man often acquires just so much knowledge as to discover his ignorance, and attains so much experience as to regret his follies, and then dies..

I would rather be the author of one original thought than conqueror of a hundred battles. Yet moral excellence is so much superior to intellectual, t….

Topics of conversation among the multitude are generally persons, sometimes things, scarcely ever principles..

For popular purposes, at least, the aim of literary artists should be similar to that of Rubens in his landscapes, of which, without neglecting the m….

After upwards of two thousand years Epicurus has been exonerated from the reproach that the doctrines of his philosophy recommended the pleasures of ….

Error is sometimes so nearly allied to truth that it blends with it as imperceptibly as the colors of the rainbow fade into each other..

There is such a delusion as evinces itself in cool vehemence; and it is the most dangerous of all expressions of fanaticism..

If solitude deprives of the benefit of advice, it also excludes from the mischief of flattery. But the absence of others' applause is generally suppl….

Great books, like large skulls, have often the least brains..

The fame which bids fair to live the longest resembles that which Horace attributes to Marcellus, whose progress he compares to the silent, impercept….

Language is properly the servant of thought, but not unfrequently becomes its master. The conceptions of a feeble writer are greatly modified by his ….

Scandal is the sport of its authors, the dread of fools, and the contempt of the wise..

The effusions of genius are entitled to admiration rather than applause, as they are chiefly the effect of natural endowment, and sometimes appear to….

It is possible to indulge too great contempt for mere success, which is frequently attended with all the practical advantages of merit itself, and wi….

A thorough: miser must possess considerable strength of character to bear the self-denial imposed by his penuriousness. Equal sacrifices, endured vol….

Time sheds a softness on remote objects or events, as local distance imparts to the landscape a smoothness and mellowness which disappear on a nearer….

Local esteem is far more conducive to happiness than general reputation. The latter may be compared to the fixed stars which glimmer so remotely as t….

Many of the finest and most interesting emotions perish forever, because too complex and fugitive for expression. Of all things relating to man, his ….

The Chinese, whom it might be well to disparage less and imitate more, seem almost the only people among whom learning and merit have the ascendency,….

Philosophy abounds more than philosophers, and learning more than learned men..

Fancy has an extensive influence in morals. Some of the most powerful and dangerous feelings in nature, as those of ambition and envy, derive their p….