A propensity to hope and joy is real riches; one to fear and sorrow real poverty.

God is an ever-present spirit guiding all that happens to a wise and holy end.

Absolute monarchy,... is the easiest death, the true Euthanasia of the BRITISH constitution.

It seems then, say I, that you leave politics entirely out of the question, and never suppose, that a wise magistrate can justly be jealous of certain tenets of philosophy, such as those of Epicurus, which, denying a divine existence, and consequently a providence and a future state, seem to loosen, in a great measure, the ties of morality, and may be supposed, for that reason, pernicious to the peace of civil society.

Reason, in a strict sense, as meaning the judgment of truth and falsehood, can never, of itself, be any motive to the will, and can have no influence but so far as it touches some passion or affection. Abstract relations of ideas are the object of curiosity, not of volition. And matters of fact, where they are neither good nor evil, where they neither excite desire nor aversion, are totally indifferent, and whether known or unknown, whether mistaken or rightly apprehended, cannot be regarded as any motive to action.

The gazing populace receive greedily, without examination, whatever soothes superstition and promotes wonder.

A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.