Virtue, like wholesome food, is better than poisons, however corrected.

The unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so.

Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

Accurate and just reasoning is the only catholic remedy, fitted for all persons and all dispositions; and is alone able to subvert that abstruse philosophy and metaphysical jargon, which, being mixed up with popular superstition, renders it in a manner impenetrable to careless reasoners, and gives it the air of science and wisdom.

Custom, then, is the great guide of human life. It is that principle alone, which renders our experience useful to us, and makes us expect, for the future, a similar train of events with those which have appeared in the past.

Self-denial is a monkish virtue.