I would warn you that I do not attribute to nature either beauty or deformity, order or confusion. Only in relation to our imagination can things be called beautiful or ugly, well-ordered or confused.

The mind can only imagine anything, or remember what is past, while the body endures.

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

The highest endeavor of the mind, and the highest virtue, it to understand things by intuition.

Everything great is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find.

Happiness is a virtue, not its reward.

How would it be possible if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labor be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.