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

Philosophers conceive of the passions which harass us as vices into which men fall by their own fault, and, therefore, generally deride, bewail, or blame them, or execrate them, if they wish to seem unusually pious.

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

If we conceive that anyone loves, desires, or hates anything which we ourselves love, desire, or hate, we shall thereupon regard the thing in question with more steadfast love, etc. On the contrary, if we think that anyone shrinks from something that we love, we shall undergo vacillation of the soul.

The eternal wisdom of God ... has shown itself forth in all things, but chiefly in the mind of man, and most of all in Jesus Christ.

I saw that all things I feared, and which feared me, had nothing good or bad in them save insofar as the mind was affected by them.

Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them.