Fortune turns faster than a mill-wheel, and those who were yesterday at top, may find themselves at bottom to-day.
Every one is the son of his own works.
The mind receives pleasure from the beauty and consistency of what is presented to the imagination, not from that which is incongruous and unnatural.
Fiction is always the better the nearer it resembles truth, and agreeable in proportion to the probability it bears and the doubtful credit which it inspires. Wherefore, all such fables ought to be suited to the understanding of those who read them, and written so as that, by softening impossibilities, smoothing what is rough, and keeping the mind in suspense, they may surprise, agreeably perplex, and entertain, creating equal admiration and delight; and these never can be excited by authors who forsake probability and imitation, in which the perfection of writing consists.
Epics may be written in prose as well as verse.