They were gentlemen in the full sense of the word; and what has one not said in saying this? - Samuel Butler

To try to live in posterity is to be like an actor who leaps over the footlights and talks to the orchestra.

I doubt whether any angel would find me very entertaining. As for myself, if ever I do entertain one it will have to be unawares. When people entertain others without an introduction they generally turn out more like devils than angels.

The greatest poets never write poetry. The Homers and Shakespeares are not the greatest — they are only the greatest that we can know. And so with Handel among musicians. For the highest poetry, whether in music or literature, is ineffable — it must be felt from one person to another, it cannot be articulated.