Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.

I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, an…

I'll come no more behind your scenes, David [Garrick]; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities.

Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.

On the contrary, it's because someone knows something about it that we can't talk about physics. It's the things that nobody knows about that we can discuss. W…

How is this? Ought not the petitioner to speak first, and the conqueror to listen in silence?