The fire of my adversity has purged the mass of my acquaintance.

Cunning pays no regard to virtue, and is but the low mimic of reason.

God himself, with reverence be it spoken, is not an absolute but a limited monarch, limited by the rule which infinite wisdom prescribes to infinite power.

What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us!

Our liberty cannot be taken away unless the people are themselves accomplices.

Lawyers must pry into the recesses of the human heart, and become well acquainted with the whole moral world, that they may discover the abstract reason of all laws.

I have observed that in comedies the best actor plays the droll, while some scrub rogue is made the fine gentleman or hero. Thus it is in the farce of life. Wise men spend their time in mirth; it is only fools who are serious.