Belief is nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain.

Apart from the representational content of an idea there is another component: its force and vivacity, its impetus.

It is harder to avoid censure than to gain applause.

Character is the result of a system of stereotyped principals.

Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt, more properly than perceived.

If morality had naturally no influence on human passions and actions, it were in vain to take such pains to inculcate it; and nothing would be more fruitless than that multitude of rules and precepts with which all moralists abound.

Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.