When I shall be dead, the principles of which I am composed will still perform their part in the universe, and will be equally useful in the grand fabric, as when they composed this individual creature. The difference to the whole will be no greater betwixt my being in a chamber and in the open air. The one change is of more importance to me than the other; but not more so to the universe.

The greatest crimes have been found, in many instances, to be compatible with a superstitious piety and devotion; hence it is justly regarded as unsafe to draw any inference in favor of a man's morals, from the fervor or strictness of his religious exercises, even though he himself believe them sincere.

I cannot but bless the memory of Julius Caesar, for the great esteem he expressed for fat men and his aversion to lean ones.

What praise is implied in the simple epithet useful! What reproach in the contrary.

It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.

The law always limits every power it gives.

The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds.