"All votes he gains who can unite Profit with pleasure, and delight His reader’s fancy, all the time He gives instruct…"

"Τu nihil invita dices faciesve Minerva."

"Beware of attempting anything (in literary composition) for which nature has not gifted you—i.e., against the grain."

"Dura Exerce imperia, et ramos compesce fluentes."

"Exert a rigorous sway, And lop the too luxuriant boughs away."

"Multa quidem scripsi: sed que vitiosa putavi Emendaturis ignibus ipse dedi."

"Hâtez-vous lentement; et sans perdre courage, Vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage: Polissez-le sans cesse…"

"Hasten then, but full slowly: don’t lose heart of grace; And your work twenty times on the easel replace. Be continua…"

"Idle reader: thou mayest believe me without any oath that I would this book, as it is the child of my brain, were the…"

"The labour and tediousness of polishing (any work of art, poetry, painting, etc.) as though with a file."