The man possessed of a dollar, feels himself to be not merely one hundred cents richer, but also one hundred cents better, than the man who is penniless; so on through all the gradations of earthly possessions - the estimate of our own moral and political importance swelling always in a ratio exactly proportionate to the growth of our purse.

He who lives in the single exercise of his mental faculties, however usefully or curiously directed, is equally an imperfect animal with the man who knows only the exercise of muscles.

The world is full of religion, and full of misery and crime.

the language of truth is too simple for inexperienced ears.

We have ... dreamed so much and observed so little, that our imaginations have grown larger than the world we live in, and our judgments have dwindled down to a point.

I am neither Jew nor Gentile, Mahomedan nor Theist; I am but a member of the human family.

You have heard of, and studied various systems of philosophy; but real philosophy is opposed to all systems.