Truth, like the juice of the poppy, in small quantities, calms men; in larger, heats and irritates them, and is attended by fatal consequences in its excess.

Truth is a point, the subtlest and finest; harder than adamant; never to be broken, worn away, or blunted. Its only bad quality is, that it is sure to hurt those who touch it; and likely to draw blood, perhaps the life blood, of those who press earnestly upon it.

Tyrants never perish from tyranny, but always from folly,-when their fantasies have built up a palace for which the earth has no foundation.

Wherever there is excessive wealth, there is also in the train of it excessive poverty; as, where the sun is brightest, the shade is deepest.

True wit, to every man, is that which falls on another.

I hate false words, and seek with care, difficulty, and moroseness, those that fit the thing.

Clear writers, like fountains, do not seem so deep as they are; the turbid look the most profound.

Every great writer is a writer of history, let him treat on almost what subject he may. He carries with him for thousands of years a portion of his times.

Authors are like cattle going to a fair: those of the same field can never move on without butting one another.

Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked.