The mind is a kind of theater, where several perceptions successively make their appearence; pass, re-pass, glide away, and mingle in an infinite variety of postures and situations.

Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.

The greater part of mankind may be divided into two classes; that of shallow thinkers who fall short of the truth; and that of abstruse thinkers who go beyond it.

It is an absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions, and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless appetite for applause

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

Praise never gives us much pleasure unless it concur with our own opinion, and extol us for those qualities in which we chiefly excel.

The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny.