I had rather be an oyster than a man, the most stupid and senseless of animals.

All that stock of arguments [the skeptics] produce to depreciate our faculties, and make mankind appear ignorant and low, are drawn principally from this head, to wit, that we are under an invincible blindness as to the true and real nature of things.

I am apt to think, if we knew what it was to be an angel for one hour, we should return to this world, though it were to sit on the brightest throne in it, with vastly more loathing and reluctance than we would now descend into a loathsome dungeon or sepulchre.

The same principles which at first view lead to skepticism, pursued to a certain point, bring men back to common sense.

A ray of imagination or of wisdom may enlighten the universe, and glow into remotest centuries.

To be is to be perceived (Esse est percipi)." Or, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

He who says there is no such thing as an honest man, you may be sure is himself a knave.