"I have no doubt that, in the present state of society, a Poet, by the very act of writing in metre, does in some degree separate himself from the mass of men, and from their immediate sympathy."

"The common people are not to be trusted with any species of power, least of all with that which is the most dangerous, the power of making laws."

"To be incapable of a feeling of poetry, in proportion to the degree in which one is so, is to be without love of human nature, and without reverence for God."

"And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes."

"I am not a metaphysician, but a simple-minded man."