James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899. St. Evremond
Good judges are as rare as good authors. 1 Let pleasure be ever so innocent, the excess is always criminal. 2 Reputation is rarely proportioned to virtue. 3 Some men will believe nothing but what they can comprehend; and there are but few things that such are able to comprehend. 4 There is a heroic innocence, as well as a heroic courage. 5 There is as much ingenuity in making an felicitous application of an passage as in being the author of it. 6 Too austere a philosophy makes few wise men; too rigorous politics, few good subjects; and too hard a religion, few religious persons whose devotion is of long continuance. 7 Truth is born with us; and we must do violence to nature, to shake off our veracity. 8
