Nature has, herself, I fear, imprinted in man a kind of instinct to inhumanity.

A father is very miserable who has no other hold on his children's affection than the need they have of his assistance, if that can be called affection.

Men ... are not agreed about any one thing, not even that heaven is over our heads.

What am I to choose? "Choose what you please, as long as you choose." There you have a foolish answer, which seems to be the outcome, however, of all Dogmatism, which will not allow us to be ignorant of that which we are ignorant.

The man who thinks he knows does not yet know what knowing is

I never met a man who thought his thinking was faulty.

For among other things he had been counseled to bring me to love knowledge and duty by my own choice, without forcing my will, and to educate my soul entirely through gentleness and freedom.