“The Tory, of course, is shocked by my Whiggism; the Whigs are rather displeased at my candour in conceding that they have sometimes been wrong, and the Tories right.”

Wearing the criticism of both sides as proof of his fairness as a biographer · Preface to the fifth edition of his Life of Sheridan

• Truth

“Patience must first explore the depths where the pearl lies hid, before Genius boldly dives and brings it up full into light.”

Reflecting on the slow groundwork that true creative brilliance depends upon · Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1825)

• Art
• Truth

“During the prevalence of the Penal Code, the music of Ireland was made to share in the fate of its people.”

Tying the survival of a nation's music to the survival of the nation itself · Preface to Irish Melodies

• Memory
• Music