William Shenstone (18 November 1714 – 11 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes. (wikipedia)
Amid the most mercenary ages it is but a secondary sort of admiration that is bestowed upon magnificence.
Written on a Window of an Inn,
Persons who discover a flatterer, do not always disapprove him, because he imagines them considerable enough to deserve his applications.
It seems idle to rail at ambition merely because it is a boundless passion; or rather is not this circumstance an argument in its favor? If one would be employed or amused through life, should we not make choice of a passion that will keep one long in play?
Poetry and consumption are the most flattering of diseases.
I hate a style, as I do a garden, that is wholly flat and regular; that slides along like an eel, and never rises to what one can call an inequality.
Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief. while judicious men are showing you the grounds of it.
A fool and his words are soon parted.
Some men use no other means to acquire respect than by insisting on it; and it sometimes answers their purpose, as it does a highwayman's in regard to money.
People can commend the weather without envy.