If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery [gunpowder] with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind.

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.

In the productions of the mind, as in those of the soil, the gifts of nature are excelled by industry and skill . . .

[In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy.

[Personal] industry must be faint and languid, which is not excited by the sense of personal interest.

Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.

The fierce and partial writers of the times, ascribing all virtue to themselves, and imputing all guilt to their adversaries, have painted the battle of the angels and the demons.