There is a desire of property in the sanest and best man, which Nature seems to have implanted as conservative of her works, and which is necessary to encourage and keep alive the arts.

Cruelty on most occasions is like the wind, boisterous in itself, and exciting a murmur and bustle in all the things it moves among.

There is a mountain and a wood between us, / Where the lone shepherd and late bird have seen us / Morning and noon and eventide repass. / Between us now the mountain and the wood / Seem standing darker than last year they stood, / And say we must not cross--alas! alas!

One single feather crushes the whole swarm.

Even the weakest disputant is made so conceited by what he calls religion, as to think himself wiser than the wisest who think differently from him.

Kindness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in another.

Life is but sighs; and, when they cease, ’tis over.

The eyes of critics, whether in commending or carping, are both on one side, like a turbot’s.

The religion of Christ is peace and good-will, – the religion of Christendom is war and ill-will.

Not dancing well, I never danced at all – and how grievously has my heart ached when others where in the full enjoyment of that conversation which I had no right even to partake.