Religion, to have any force upon men's understandings,--indeed, to exist at all,--must be supposed paramount to law, and independent for its substance upon any human institution, else it would be the absurdest thing in the world,--an acknowledged cheat.

Flattery is no more than what raises in a man's mind an idea of a preference which he has not.

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

Frugality is founded on the principal that all riches have limits.

But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.

One that confounds good and evil is an enemy to good.

The greatest crimes do not arise from a want of feeling for others but from an over-sensibilit y for ourselves and an over-indulgence to our own desires