Nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of God

Vicious habits are so great a stain to human nature, and so odious in themselves, that every person actuated by right reason would avoid them, though he were sure they would be always concealed both from God and man, and had no future punishment entailed upon them.

Our minds possess by nature an insatiable desire to know the truth.

In a disordered mind, as in a disordered body, soundness of health is impossible.

The house should derive dignity from the master, not the master from the house.

The most evident difference between man and animals is this: the beast, in as much as it is largely motivated by the senses and with little perception of the past or future, lives only for the present. But man, because he is endowed with reason by which he is able to perceive relationships, sees the causes of things, understands the reciprocal nature of cause and effect, makes analogies, easily surveys the whole course of his life, and makes the necessary preparations for its conduct.

It is not enough merely possess virtue, as if it were an art; it should be practiced.