Be England what she will, With all her faults she is my country still.

229

Statesman all over, in plots famous grown,/ He mouths a sentence, as curs mouth a bone.

228

Those who would make us feel, must feel themselves.

204

So loud each tongue, so empty was each head, / So much they talked, so very little said.

180

Who often, but without success, have prayed for apt Alliteration's artful aid.

178

Genius is of no country.

159

To copy beauty forfeits all pretense to fame; to copy faults is want of sense.

153

Genius is independent of situation.

145

Great use they have, when in the hands Of one like me, who understands, Who understands the time and place, The person, manner, and the grace, Which fools neglect; so that we find, If all the requisites are join'd, From whence a perfect joke must spring, A joke's a very serious thing.

131

The best things carried to excess are wrong.

127

A joke's a very serious thing.

123

Though by whim, envy, or resentment led, they damn those authors whom they never read.

66