It is not error which opposes the progress of truth; it is indolence, obstinacy, the spirit of routine, every thing which favors inaction.

Every soil does not produce every material.

Scrupulous people are not suited to great affairs.

All merchandize has the two essential properties of money, to measure and to represent all value: and in this sense all merchandize is money.

Gold and silver are constituted, by the nature of things, money, and universal money, independent of all convention, and of all laws.

All is more or less proper to serve as a common measure, in proportion as it is more or less in general use, of a more similar quality, and more easy to be divided into aliquot parts. All is more or less applicable for the purpose of a general pledge of exchange, in proportion as it is less susceptible of decay or alteration in quantity or quality.

The whole mass of humanity . . . marches constantly, though slowly, toward greater perfection.