He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men's heads.

Mathematicians have sought knowledge in figures, Philosophers in systems, Logicians in subtleties, and Metaphysicians in sounds. It is not in any nor in all of these. He that studies only men, will get the body of knowledge without the soul, and he that studies only books, the soul without the body.

The seat of perfect contentment is in the head; for every individual is thoroughly satisfied with his own proportion of brains.

Few things are more agreeable to self-love than revenge, and yet no cause so effectually restrains us from revenge as self-love. And this paradox naturally suggests another; that the strength of the community is not unfrequently built upon the weakness of those individuals that compose it.

It is seldom that statesmen have the option of choosing between a good and an evil.

A public debt is a kind of anchor in the storm; but if the anchor be too heavy for the vessel, she will be sunk by that very weight which was intended for her preservation.

Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false.