This evil fortune, which generally attends extraordinary men in the management of great affairs, has been imputed to divers causes, that need not be here set down, when so obvious a one occurs, if what a certain writer observes be true, that when a great genius appears in the world the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

Those dreams that on the silent night intrude, and with false flitting shapes our minds delude ... are mere productions of the brain. And fools consult interpr…

I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishi…

For conversation well endued; She calls it witty to be rude; And, placing raillery in railing, Will tell aloud your greatest failing.

The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities.

I wish the government would put a tax on pianos for the incompetent.

Only the mediocre are always at their best.