The thoughts that come often unsought, and, as it were, drop into the mind, are commonly the most valuable of any we have.

Reason must be our last judge and guide in everything.

Habits wear more constantly and with greatest force than reason, which, when we have most need of it, is seldom fairly consulted, and more rarely obeyed

There cannot any one moral rule be proposed whereof a man may not justly demand a reason. Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself. The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves.

[Individuals] have a right to defend themselves and recover by force what by unlawful force is taken from them.

Understanding like the eye; whilst it makes us see and perceive all things, takes no notice of itself; and it requires art and pains to set it at a distance and make it its own subject.

Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses.