I see men ordinarily more eager to discover a reason for things than to find out whether the things are so.

We are all of us richer than we think we are; but we are taught to borrow and to beg, and brought up more to make use of what is another's than of our own.

Every man may speak truly, but to speak methodically, prudently, and fully is a talent that few men have.

Man is certainly crazy. He could not make a mite, and he makes gods by the dozen.

If faces were not alike, we could not distinguish men from beasts; if they were not different, we could not tell one man from another.

In truth, the care and expense of our fathers aims only at furnishing our heads with knowledge; of judgement and virtue, little news.

There is the name and the thing; the name is a sound which sets a mark on and denotes the thing. The name is no part of the thing nor of the substance; it is an extraneous piece added to the thing, and outside of it.