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.

I have tried sedulously not to laugh at the acts of man, nor to lament them, nor to detest them, but to understand them.

Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.

Hatred is increased by being reciprocated, and can on the other hand be destroyed by love.

A free man thinks of nothing less than of death; and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life.

No to laugh, not to lament, not to detest, but to understand.

In the mind there is no absolute or free will.