But in all things whether we shall make only a due use of the liberties we have asked, is left entirely to the judicious reader to decide.

The words of kindness are more healing to a drooping heart than balm or honey.

Tis this desire of bending all things to our own purposes which turns them into confusion and is the chief source of every error in our lives.

[Allegory] is a flight by which the human wit attempts at one and the same time to investigate two objects, and consequently is fitted only to the most exalted geniuses.

Flattery in courtship is the highest insolence, for whilst it pretends to bestow on you more than you deserve, it is watching an opportunity to take from you what you really have.

I fancied I had some constancy of mind because I could bear my own sufferings, but found through the sufferings of others I could be weakened like a child.

If modesty and candor are necessary to an author in his judgment of his own works, no less are they in his reader.

Agreeable then to my present inclination, I formed the object of my own worship, which was no other than my own understanding.

On the wings of fancy, gentle readers, bear yourselves into the mid-air, where by imagination you may form a large stupendous castle.

I am none of those nonsensical fools that can whine and make romantic love--I leave that to younger brothers. Let my estate speakfor me.

The loss of liberty which must attend being a wife was of all things the most horrible to my imagination.

By the end of World War II, we were the most powerful and least damaged of the great nations. We also had most of the money. America's hegemony lasted exactly five years.

I'm totally in favour of meeting our Paris commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But I don't think we should do that by making ourselves uncompetitive.

Sailing is necessary, living is not necessary.

If you want to live a life free of regret, there is an option open to you. It's called a lobotomy.

It used to be said of a man who had suffered a catastrophic setback in his line of work that he had been handed his head on a platter. We are being handed our heads with tweezers now.

The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.

There are no mistakes in life, just learning opportunities.

The power of the present moment is so immense it is capable - when lived in fully - of destroying forever every past mistake and regret.

Speak, what trade art thou? Why, sir, a carpenter. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What does thou with thy best apparel on?