William Shenstone

"Oft has good-nature been the fool's defence, And honest meaning gilded want of sense."

"Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, Emblem right meet of decency does yield."

"Pun-provoking thyme."

"A little bench of heedless bishops here, And there a chancellor in embryo."

"Love is a pleasing, but a various clime!"

"I trimm'd my lamp, consumed the midnight oil."

"Perish the lover, whose imperfect flame Forgets one feature of the nymph he lov'd."

"For seldom shall she hear a tale So sad, so tender, yet so true."

"So sweetly she bade me adieu, I thought that she bade me return."

"My banks they are furnish’d with bees, Whose murmur invites one to sleep."

"I have found out a gift for my fair; I have found where the wood-pigeons breed."

"Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome, at an inn."

"She pleas'd while distant, but, when near, she charm'd."

"Let the gull'd fool the toil of war pursue, Where bleed the many to enrich the few."

"Theirs is the present who can praise the past."

"Sloth views the tow'rs of fame with envious eyes; Desirous still, still impotent to rise."

"Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent."

"A large, branching, aged oak, is perhaps the most venerable of all inanimate objects."

"A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happens to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately."

"Laws are generally found to be nets of such a texture, as the little creep through, the great break through, and the middle size are alone entangled in."

"It is a miserable thing to love where one hates; and yet it is not inconsistent."

"Love can be founded upon nature only; or the appearance of it."

"Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold."

"Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical invention."

"Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it."

"While we labour to subdue our passions, we should take care not to extinguish them. Subduing our passions, is disengaging ourselves from the world; to which however, Whilst we reside in it, we must always bear relation; and we may detach ourselves to such a degree as to pass an useless and insipid life, which we were not meant to do. Our existence here is at least one part of a system.A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind."

"A fool and his words are soon parted; a man of genius and his money."

"Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born."

"There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason."

"Independency may be found in comparative, as well as absolute abundance: I mean when a person contracts his desires within the limits of his fortune."

"Second thoughts are oftentimes the very worst of all thoughts."

"The fund of sensible discourse is limited; that of jest and badinerie is infinite."

"Prudent men should lock up their motives, giving only their intimates a key."

"Health is beauty, and the most perfect health is the most perfect beauty."