Interest is the barometer of the state.

This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society.

The ages of greatest public spirit are not always eminent for private virtue.

The bigotry of theologians is a malady which seems almost incurable.

A little philosophy makes a man an Atheist: a great deal converts him to religion

It is harder to avoid censure than to gain applause.

..all arguments concerning existence are founded on the relation of cause and effect; that our knowledge of that relation is derived entirely from experience; and all our experimental conclusions proceed upon the supposition that the future will be conformable to the past. .... Without the influence of custom, we should be entirely ignorant of every matter of fact beyond what is immediately present to the memory and senses.