By reading a man does, as it were, antedate his life, and make himself contemporary with the ages past; and this way of running up beyond one's nativity is better than Plato's pre-existence.

True courage is the result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable.

Truth is the band of union and the basis of human happiness. Without this virtue there is no reliance upon language, no confidence in friendship, no security in promises and oaths.

Rhetoric is nothing but reason well dressed and argument put in order.

Prudence is a necessary ingredient in all the virtues, without which they degenerate into folly and excess.

Knowledge is the consequence of time, and multitude of days are fittest to teach wisdom.

There are few things reason can discover with so much certainty and ease as its own insufficiency.