41 quotes
Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical invention.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
Oft has good-nature been the fool's defence,
And honest meaning gilded want of sense.
Verses to a Lady (1736)
Love can be founded upon nature only; or the appearance of it.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
It is a miserable thing to love where one hates; and yet it is not inconsistent.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
Prudent men should lock up their motives, giving only their intimates a key.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
My banks they are furnish’d with bees,
Whose murmur invites one to sleep.
Works, Vol. I: Verse (1764)
Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
A fool and his words are soon parted; a man of genius and his money.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
For seldom shall she hear a tale
So sad, so tender, yet so true.
Works, Vol. I: Verse (1764)
There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
Love is a pleasing, but a various clime!
Works, Vol. I: Verse (1764)
Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
A large, branching, aged oak, is perhaps the most venerable of all inanimate objects.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
The fund of sensible discourse is limited; that of jest and badinerie is infinite.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
Health is beauty, and the most perfect health is the most perfect beauty.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
Second thoughts are oftentimes the very worst of all thoughts.
Essays on Men and Manners (1764)
She pleas'd while distant, but, when near, she charm'd.
Works, Vol. I: Verse (1764)