“An opera may be allowed to be extravagantly lavish in its decorations, as its only design is to gratify the senses and keep up an indolent attention in the audience”

“It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution”

“Knowledge is that which, next to virtue, truly raises one person above another”

“We don't understand life any better at forty than at twenty, but we know it and admit it”

“Talk six times with the same single lady and you may get the wedding dress ready”

“Let's not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realising it”