It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger. It is not contrary to reason for me to choose my total ruin, to prevent the least uneasiness of an Indian, or person wholly unknown to me. It is as little contrary to reason to prefer even my own acknowledged lesser good to my greater, and have a more ardent affection for the former than the latter.

When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.

Jealousy is a painful passion; yet without some share of it, the agreeable affection of love has difficulty to subsist in its full force and violence.

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

Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.

To be a philosophical sceptic is, in a man of letters, the first and most essential to being a sound, believing Christian.

Nothing is so improving to the temper as the study of the beauties either of poetry, eloquence, music, or painting.