"I am a man of the world, and have seen much of its evil. I have also seen something of its good."

"It is with literature as with law or empire – an established name is an estate in tenure, or a throne in possession."

"I have no pleasure in the world but my books."

"Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action for no other reason than because he knows he should not?"

"I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years…"