It is the work of fancy to enlarge, but of judgment to shorten and contract; and therefore this must be as far above the other as judgment is a greater and nobler faculty than fancy or imagination.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
Folly enlarges men's desires while it lessens their capacities.
Judgment is more than skill. It sets forth on intellectual seas beyond the shores of hard indisputable factual information.
To be content with life or to live merrily, rather all that is required is that we bestow on all things only a fleeting, superficial glance; the more thoughtful we become the more earnest we grow.
The preserve of ambition and folly in pursuit of illusion, or delusion.
Earnestness can ferment into sentimentality.
A soul preoccupied with great ideas best performs small duties.
The artist finds, that the more he can confine his attention to a particular part of any work, his productions are the more perfect, and grow under his hands in the greater quantities.
Judgment is very easy, but I think, on the whole, professional critics maybe see too much, and compare too much, and forget the joy of actually looking and contemplating for its own sake.
Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment.