Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.
The care of our national commerce redounds more to the riches and prosperity of the public than any other act of government.
A good disposition is more valuable than gold, for the latter is the gift of fortune, but the former is the dower of nature.
Method is not less requisite in ordinary conversation than in writing, provided a man would talk to make himself understood.
Dependence is a perpetual call upon humanity, and a greater incitement to tenderness and pity than any other motive whatever.
In the loss of an object we do not proportion our grief to the real value it bears, but to the value our fancies set upon it.
Mankind are more indebted to industry than ingenuity; the gods set up their favors at a price, and industry is the purchaser.
It is ridiculous for any man to criticize on the works of another, who has not distinguished himself by his own performances.
A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.
The English delight in Silence more than any other European Nation, if the Remarks which are made on us by Foreigners are true.
Nature in her whole drama never drew such a part; she has sometimes made a fool, but a coxcomb is always of a man's own making.
Let echo, too, perform her part, Prolonging every note with art; And in a low expiring strain, Play all the comfort o'er again.
Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life.
The peacock in all his pride does not display half the colors that appear in the garments of a British lady when she is dressed.
The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture.
To be an atheist requires an indefinitely greater measure of faith than to recieve all the great truths which atheism would deny.
But in all despotic governments, though a particular prince may favour arts and letter, there is a natural degeneracy of mankind.
A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.
The lives of great men cannot be writ with any tolerable degree of elegance or exactness within a short time after their decease.
Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacence, if they discover none of the like in themselves.
Every man in the time of courtship and in the first entrance of marriage, puts on a behavior like my correspondent's holiday suit.
Jealousy is that pain which a man feels from the apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the person whom he entirely loves.
Eternity! thou pleasing dreadful thought! Through what variety of untried being, Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
When a man has been guilty of any vice or folly, the best atonement he can make for it is to warn others not to fall into the like.
Among those evils which befall us, there are many which have been more painful to us in the prospect than by their actual pressure.
Music is the only sensual gratification which mankind may indulge in to excess without injury to their moral or religious feelings.
Allegories, when well chosen, are like so many tracks of light in a discourse, that make everything about them clear and beautiful.
Loveliest of women! heaven is in thy soul, Beauty and virtue shine forever round thee, Bright'ning each other! thou art all divine!
The spacious firmament on high, And all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim.
Who rant by note, and through the gamut rage; in songs and airs express their martial fire; combat in trills, and in a fugue expire.
Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty.
Of all the diversions of life, there is none so proper to fill up its empty spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining authors.
Nothing is more amiable than true modesty, and nothing more contemptible than the false. The one guards virtue, the other betrays it.
It is odd to consider the connection between despotism and barbarity, and how the making one person more than man makes the rest less.
The first race of mankind used to dispute, as our ordinary people do now-a-days, in a kind of wild logic, uncultivated by rule of art.
Music can noble hints impart, Engender fury, kindle love, With unsuspected eloquence can move, And manage all the man with secret art.
True religion and virtue give a cheerful and happy turn to the mind, admit of all true pleasures, and even procure for us the highest.
If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.
There is no passion that is not finely expressed in those parts of the inspired writings which are proper for divine songs and anthems.
The statue lies hid in a block of marble; and the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter, and removes the rubbish.
There is not on earth a spectacle more worthy the regard of a Creator intent on his works, than a brave man superior to his sufferings.
The schoolboy counts the time till the return of the holidays; the minor longs to be of age; the lover is impatient till he is married.
There is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country.
A man improves more by reading the story of a person eminent for prudence and virtue, than by the finest rules and precepts of morality.
When love's well-timed 'tis not a fault to love; The strong, the brave, the virtuous, and the wise, Sink in the soft captivity together.
An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person.
The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.
We make provisions for this life as if it were never to have an end, and for the other life as though it were never to have a beginning.
Music religious heat inspires, It wakes the soul, and lifts it high, And wings it with sublime desires, And fits it to bespeak the Deity.
The very first discovery of beauty strikes the mind with an inward joy, and spreads a cheerfulness and delight through all its faculties.