There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience.

The busier we are, the more acutely we feel that we live, the more conscious we are of life.

Enthusiasm is always connected with the senses, whatever be the object that excites it. The true strength of virtue is serenity of mind, combined with a deliberate and steadfast determination to execute her laws. That is the healthful condition of the moral life; on the other hand, enthusiasm, even when excited by representations of goodness, is a brilliant but feverish glow which leaves only exhaustion and languor behind.

Beneficence is a duty. He who frequently practices it, and sees his benevolent intentions realized, at length comes really to love him to whom he has done good. When, therefore, it is said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," it is not meant, thou shalt love him first and do him good in consequence of that love, but, thou shalt do good to thy neighbor; and this thy beneficence will engender in thee that love to mankind which is the fulness and consummation of the inclination to do good.

[R]eason is... given to us as a practical faculty, that is, as one that influences the will.

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.

Art does not want the representation of a beautiful thing, but the representation of something beautiful.