Our actions must clothe us with an immortality loathsome or glorious.

We submit to the society of those that can inform us, but we seek the society of those whom we can inform. And men of genius ought not to be chagrined if they see themselves neglected. For when we communicate knowledge, we are raised in our own estimation; but when we receive it, we are lowered.

He that is good will infallibly become better, and he that is bad will as certainly become worse; for vice, virtue, and time are three things that never stand still.

There is this paradox in fear: he is most likely to inspire it in others who has none himself!

No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health.

Doubt is the vestibule of faith.

We own almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed.