Be substantially great in thyself, and more than thou appearest unto others. - Thomas Browne

Schollers are men of peace, they beare no armes, but their tongues are sharper then Actius his razor, their pens carry farther, and give a lowder report than thunder; I had rather stand the shock of a Basilisco, than the fury of a mercilesse Pen.

There is no antidote against the opium of time, which temporally considereth all things: our fathers find their graves in our short memories, and sadly tell us how we may be buried in our survivors. Gravestones tell truth scarce forty years. Generations pass while some trees stand, and old families last not three oaks.

I cannot tell by what logic we call a toad, a bear, or an elephant ugly, they being created in those outward shapes and figures which best express those actions of their inward forms. And having passed that general visitation of God, who saw that all that he had made was good, that is, conformable to his will, which abhors deformity, and is the rule of order and beauty; there is no deformity but in monstrosity, wherein, notwithstanding there is a kind of beauty.