Which of mortal men was to be accounted nearest to the gods in happiness — that man who is in want of the fewest things.”

The present age, if we consider chiefly the state of our own country, may be styled, with great propriety, The Age of Authors.

—Quae non fecimus ipsi, Vix ea nostra voco. OVID.   The deeds of long descended ancestors Are but by grace of …

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The common neglect of the present hour is more shameful and criminal, as no man is betrayed to it by error, but admits it by negligence.

It has been sometimes asked how it comes to pass, that the world is divided by such difference of opinion?

I toiled year after year in expectation of retirement: but idleness has not brought with it the blessing of tranquillity.

Few minds are able to separate the ideas of greatness and prosperity.

It is often charged upon writers, that with all their pretensions to genius and discoveries, they do little more than copy one another.

I shall, therefore, venture to lay before you, such observations as have risen to my mind in the consideration of Virgil’s pastorals.

It is observed by Bacon, that “reading makes a full man, conversation a ready man, and writing an exact man.”