When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment, we have no compass to govern us, nor can we know distinctly to what port to steer.

Society is indeed a contract. ... It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection.

True religion is the foundation of society. When that is once shaken by contempt, the whole fabric cannot be stable nor lasting.

I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that the delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it.

The march of the human mind is slow.

A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.

The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of the great.