God creates the animals, man creates himself.

It is hardly to be believed how spiritual reflections when mixed with a little physics can hold people's attention and give them a livelier idea of God than do the often ill-applied examples of his wrath.

A good method of discovery is to imagine certain members of a system removed and then see how what is left would behave: for example, where would we be if iron were absent from the world: this is an old example.

The course of the seasons is a piece of clockwork, with a cuckoo to call when it is spring.

To many people virtue consists chiefly in repenting faults, not in avoiding them.

A clever child brought up with a foolish one can itself become foolish. Man is so perfectible and corruptible he can become a fool through good sense.

To make astute people believe one is what one is not is, in most cases, harder than actually to become what one wishes to appear.