Poets are far rarer births than kings.—Ben Jonson.
One might discover schools of the poets as distinctly as schools of the painters, by much converse in them, and a thorough taste of their manner of writing.—Pope.
They learn in suffering what they teach in song.—Shelley.
Policy.—He has mastered all points who has combined the useful with the agreeable.—Horace.
At court one becomes a sort of human ant-eater, and learns to catch one's prey by one's tongue.—Bulwer-Lytton.
Measures, not men, have always been my mark.—Goldsmith.
In a troubled state, we must do as in foul weather upon a river, not think to cut directly through, for the boat may be filled with water; but rise and fall as the waves do, and give way as much as we conveniently can.—Seldon.
To manage men one ought to have a sharp mind in a velvet sheath.—George Eliot.
Politeness.—Politeness is fictitious benevolence. It supplies the place of it among those who see each other only in public, or but little. Depend upon it, the want of it never fails to produce something disagreeable to one or other. I have always applied to good breeding what Addison, in his "Cato," says of honor: "Honor's a sacred tie: the law of kings; the noble mind's distinguishing perfection; that aids and strengthens Virtue where it meets her, and imitates her actions where she is not."—Johnson.
Self-command is the main elegance.—Emerson.