Every character is in some respects uniform, and in others inconsistent; and it is only by the study both of the uniformity and inconsistency, and a comparison of them with each other, that the knowledge of man is acquired.

Man is said to be a rational creature; but should it not rather be said, that man is a creature capable of being rational, as we say a parrot is a creature capable of speech?

Man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter; is he not also the only one that deserves to be laughed at?

It is so much in the nature of men to overreach and deceive one another, that their very sports and plays are founded on that principle.

Politics is the food of sense exposed to the hunger of folly.

Men often prove the violence of their own prejudices, even by the violence with which they attack the prejudices of other people.

No man ever reaches manhood till a woman's tenderness Is a part of his possession.