It is the privilege of posterity to set matters right between those antagonists who, by their rivalry for greatness, divided a whole age. The greatest sweetener of human life is friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn. Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life. If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius. There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty. What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered alonglife's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable. True happiness ... arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and, in the next, from friendship and conversation of a few selection companions. A true critic ought to dwell upon excellencies rather than imperfections, to discover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world such things as are worth their observation. | 
