"Forced from home and all its pleasures Afric's coast I left forlorn, To increase a stranger's treasures O'er the raging billows borne. Men from England bought and sold me, Paid my price in paltry gold; But, though slave they have enrolled me, Minds are never to be sold."

"Now let us sing — Long live the king, And Gilpin, long live he; And, when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see!"

"A hat not much the worse for wear."

"The dogs did bark, the children screamed, Up flew the windows all; And every soul cried out, "Well done!" As loud as he could bawl."

"O'erjoyed was he to find That, though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind."

"My sister, and my sister’s child, Myself, and children three, Will fill the chaise; so you must ride On horseback after we."

"John Gilpin was a citizen Of credit and renown, A train-band captain eke was he, Of famous London town."

"How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-winged arrows of light."

"But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard; Ne'er sigh'd at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a Sabbath appear'd."

"There is mercy in every place, And mercy, encouraging thought! Gives even affliction a grace And reconciles man to his lot."

"My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me? O tell me I yet have a friend, Though a friend I am never to see."

"Religion! what treasure untold Resides in that heavenly word!"

"Society friendship and love Divinely bestow'd upon man, O had I the wings of a dove How soon I would taste you again!"

"I am out of humanity's reach. I must finish my journey alone, Never hear the sweet music of speech; I start at the sound of my own."

"O solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place."

"I am monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; From the center all round to the sea I am lord of the fowl and the brute."

"I praise the Frenchman, his remark was shrewd — How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat Whom I may whisper — solitude is sweet."

"Till authors hear at length, one general cry, Tickle and entertain us, or we die!The loud demand from year to year the same, Beggars invention and makes fancy lame."

"Philologists, who chase A panting syllable through time and space, Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark, To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark."

"Built God a church, and laugh'd his word to scorn."

"An idler is a watch that wants both hands; As useless when it goes as when it stands."

"Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed."

"A business with an income at its heels Furnishes always oil for its own wheels."

"He likes the country, but in truth must own, Most likes it, when he studies it in town."

"The disencumbered Atlas of the state."

"But Conversation, choose what theme we may, And chiefly when religion leads the way, Should flow, like waters after summer show'rs, Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers."

"But that disease when soberly defined Is the false fire of an o'erheated mind."

"That good diffused may more abundant grow."

"Our wasted oil unprofitably burns, Like hidden lamps in old sepulchral urns."

"I pity bashful men, who feel the pain Of fancied scorn and undeserved disdain, And bear the marks upon a blushing face, Of needless shame, and self-impos'd disgrace."

"His wit invites you by his looks to come, But when you knock it never is at home."

"The solemn fop; significant and budge; A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge."

"I cannot talk with civet in the room, A fine puss-gentleman that's all perfume."

"Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys, Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours."

"The pipe, with solemn interposing puff, Makes half a sentence at a time enough; The dozing sages drop the drowsy strain, Then pause, and puff—and speak, and pause again."

"A tale should be judicious, clear, succinct; The language plain, and incidents well link’d; Tell not as new what ev’ry body knows; And, new or old, still hasten to a close."

"A moral, sensible, and well-bred man Will not affront me, and no other can."

"He would not, with a peremptory tone, Assert the nose upon his face his own."

"'Tis hard if all is false that I advance, A fool must now and then be right by chance."

"Laugh at all you trembled at before."

"No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest, Till half mankind were like himself possess'd."

"How shall I speak thee, or thy power address, Thou god of our idolatry, the Press? By thee religion, liberty, and laws, Exert their influence and advance their cause: By thee worse plagues than Pharaoh’s land befell, Diffused, make Earth the vestibule of Hell; Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise, Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies; Like Eden’s dread probationary tree, Knowledge of good and evil is from thee!"

"How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home."

"As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, And hides the ruin that it feeds upon; So sophistry cleaves close to and protects Sin’s rotten trunk, concealing its defects."

"Remorse, the fatal egg by Pleasure laid."

"Himself a wanderer from the narrow way, His silly sheep, what wonder if they stray?"

"Oh, laugh or mourn with me the rueful jest, A cassock’d huntsman and a fiddling priest!"

"Lights of the world, and stars of human race."

"Nature, exerting an unwearied power, Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower; Spreads the fresh verdure of the field, and leads The dancing Naiads through the dewy meads."