Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and convenience of our lives.
Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.
Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn.
The pictures placed for ornament and use, The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose.
And e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart distrusting asks if this be joy.
So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar, But bind him to his native mountains more.
I love everything that's old, - old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.
Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, And round his dwelling guardian saints attend.
An emperor in his nightcap will not meet with half the respect of an emperor with a crown.
On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting, 'Twas only when he was off, he was acting.
Thus 'tis with all; their chief and constant care Is to seem everything but what they are.
While selfishness joins hands with no one of the virtues, benevolence is allied to them all.
A flattering painter, who made it his care To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.
The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made.
As for disappointing them I should not so much mind; but I can't abide to disappoint myself.
Here lies David Garrick, describe me who can, An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man.
By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd; The sports of children satisfy the child.
For just experience tells, in every soil, That those that think must govern those that toil.
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, that one small head could carry all he knew.
We sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favors.
In two opposite opinions, if one be perfectly reasonable, the other can't be perfectly right.
Thou source of all my bliss and all my woe, That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so.
The heart of every man lies open to the shafts of correction if the archer can take proper aim.
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, and fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.
Fancy restrained may be compared to a fountain, which plays highest by diminishing the aperture.
Where wealth and freedom reign contentment fails, And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.
Even children follow'd with endearing wile, And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile.
There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosopher.
The ambitious are forever followed by adulation for they receive the most pleasure from flattery.
The hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowded with fruition.
The fortunate circumstances of our lives are generally found, at last, to be of our own producing.
They please, are pleas'd, they give to get esteem Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem.
A book may be very amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.
With disadvantages enough to bring him to humility, a Scotsman is one of the proudest things alive.
People seek within a short span of life to satisfy a thousand desires, each of which is insatiable.
A modest woman, dressed out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.
The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, Shoulder'd his crutch, and shew'd how fields were won.
Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt.
Be not affronted at a joke. If one throw salt at thee, thou wilt receive no harm, unless thou art raw.
Ridicule has always been the enemy of enthusiasm, and the only worthy opponent to ridicule is success.
Nothing is so contemptible as that affectation of wisdom, which some display, by universal incredulity.
He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack, For he knew when he pleas'd he could whistle them back.
A traveler of taste will notice that the wise are polite all over the world, but the fool only at home.
In my time, the follies of the town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stagecoach.
Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; It 's like sending them ruffles when wanting a shirt.
Taste is the power of relishing or rejecting whatever is offered for the entertainment of the imagination.
As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then, to be sure; but there's no love lost between us.
Surely the best way to meet the enemy is head on in the field and not wait till they plunder our very homes.
All the sciences are, in some measure, linked with each other, and before the one is ended, the other begins.