Those who make antitheses by forcing the sense are like men who make false windows for the sake of symmetry. Their rule is not to speak justly, but to make accurate figures.

If we regulate our conduct according to our own convictions, we may safely disregard the praise or censure of others.

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

All evil stems from this-that we do. Know how to handle your solitude.

Let man then contemplate the whole of nature in her full and grand majesty... No idea approaches it. We may enlarge our conceptions beyond all imaginable space; we only produce atoms in comparison with the reality of things. It is an infinite sphere, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.

Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.

Who confers reputation? who gives respect and veneration to persons, to books, to great men? Who but Opinion? How utterly insufficient are all the riches of the world without her approbation!