Judicious books enlarge the mind and improve the heart.

I love man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my homage; and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man.

Slavery to monarchs and ministers, which the world will be long freeing itself from, and whose deadly grasp stops the progress of the human mind, is not yet abolished.

Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable - and life is more than a dream.

The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason.

Perhaps the seeds of false-refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and defections of their race, in a premature and unnatural manner, undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption through the whole mass of society!

Simplicity and sincerity generally go hand in hand, as both proceed from a love of truth.