Ceremony forbids us to express by words things that are lawful and natural, and we obey it; reason forbids us to do things unlawful and ill, and nobody obeys it.

Every man bears the whole stamp of the human condition.

The beginnings of all things are weak and tender. We must therefore be clear-sighted in the beginnings, for, as in their budding we discern not the danger, so in their full growth we perceive not the remedy.

Now there cannot be first principles for men, unless the Divinity has revealed them; all the rest--beginning, middle, and end--isnothing but dreams and smoke.

I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.

Women are more susceptible to pain than to pleasure.

Like the watermen who advance forward while they look backward.