For all the practical purposes of life, truth might as well be in a prison as in the folio of a schoolman; and those who release her from her cobwebbed shelf and teach her to live with men have the merit of liberating, if not of discovering, her.

As there are none so weak that we may venture to injure them with impunity, so there are none so low that they may not at some time be able to repay an obligation. Therefore, what benevolence would dictate, prudence would confirm.

Ignorance is a blank sheet, on which we may write; but error is a scribbled one, on which we must first erase.

It is far more easy to acquire a fortune like a knave, than to expend it, like a gentleman.

Religion has treated knowledge sometimes as an enemy, sometimes as a hostage; often as a captive and more often as a child; but knowledge has become of age, and religion must either renounce her acquaintance, or introduce her as a companion and respect her as a friend.

The victim to too severe a law is considered as a martyr rather than a criminal.

The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men are.