In all places, and in all times, those religionists who have believed too much have been more inclined to violence and persecution than those who have believed too little.

The true motives of our actions, like the real pipes of an organ, are usually concealed; but the gilded and hollow pretext is pompously placed in the front for show.

It is a curious paradox that precisely in proportion to our own intellectual weakness will be our credulity, to those mysterious powers assumed by others; and in those regions of darkness and ignorance where man cannot effect even those things that are within the power of man, there we shall ever find that a blind belief in feats that are far beyond those powers has taken the deepest root in the minds of the deceived, and produced the richest harvest to the knavery of the deceiver.

Many speak the truth when they say that they despise riches, but they mean the riches possessed by others.

Deliberate with caution, but act with decision and yield with graciousness, or oppose with firmness.

In order to try whether a vessel be leaky, we first prove it with water before we trust it with wine.

Envy ought to have no place allowed it in the hearts of people; for the goods of this present world are so vile and low that they are beneath it; and those of the future world are so vast and exalted that they are above it.