Man can, indeed, act contrarily to the decrees of God, as far as they have been written like laws in the minds of ourselves or the prophets, but against that eternal decree of God, which is written in universal nature, and has regard to the course of nature as a whole, he can do nothing.

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

The less the mind understands and the more things it perceives, the greater its power of feigning is; and the more things it understands, the more that power is diminished.

Nothing in nature is by chance... Something appears to be chance only because of our lack of knowledge.

Whatsoever is, is in God.

I have resolved to demonstrate by a certain and undoubted course of argument, or to deduce from the very condition of human nature, not what is new and unheard of, but only such things as agree best with practice.

Statesman are suspected of plotting against mankind, rather than consulting their interests, and are esteemed more crafty than learned.