Custom is a violent and treacherous school mistress. She, by little and lithe, slyly and unperceived, slips in the foot of her authority; but having by this gentle and humble beginning, with the benefit of time, fixed and established it, she then unmasks a furious and tyrannic countenance, against which we have no more the courage or the power so much as to lift up our eyes.

We need to interpret interpretations more than to interpret things.

Whenever a new discovery is reported to the world, they say first, It is probably not true, Then after, when the truth of the new proposition has been demonstrated beyond question, they say, Yes, it may be true, but it is not important. Finally, when sufficient time has elapsed to fully evidence its importance, they say, Yes, surely it is important, but it is no longer new.

God defend me from myself.

We do not correct the man we hang; we correct others by him.

The most ordinary things, the most common and familiar, if we could see them in their true light, would turn out to be the grandest miracles.

Truly man is a marvelously vain, diverse, and undulating object. It is hard to found any constant and uniform judgment on him.