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

There are two sides, two players. One is light, the other is dark.

Defects and weakness in men's understandings, as well as other faculties, come from want of a right use of their own minds; I am apt to think, the fault is generally mislaid upon nature, and there is often a complaint of want of parts, when the fault lies in want of a due improvement of them.

It is of great use to the sailor to know the length of his line, though he cannot with it fathom all the depths of the ocean.

So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words when we have nothing else but words to do it with.

All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it.

Vague and mysterious forms of speech, and abuse of language, have so long passed for mysteries of science; and hard or misapplied words with little or no meaning have, by prescription, such a right to be mistaken for deep learning and height of speculation, that it will not be easy to persuade either those who speak or those who hear them, that they are but the covers of ignorance and hindrance of true knowledge.