The separation of the Arabs from the rest of mankind has accustomed them to confound the ideas of stranger and enemy.

Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.

The voice of history is often little more than the organ of hatred or flattery.

The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference in age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction.

The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeno and Epicurus, still reigned in the schools; and their systems, transmitted with blind deference from one generation of disciples to another, precluded every generous attempt to exercise the powers, or enlarge the limits, of the human mind.

The progress of manufactures and commerce insensibly collects a large multitude within the walls of a city: but these citizens are no longer soldiers; and the arts which adorn and improve the state of civil society, corrupt the habits of the military life.

The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.