Why do people respect the package rather than the man?

Each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice; for indeed it seems we have no other test of truth and reason than the example and pattern of the opinions and customs of the country we live in

There is no desire more natural than the desire of knowledge. (Il n'est desir plus naturel que le desir de connaissance)

In love, 'tis no other than frantic desire for that which flies from us.

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.

I will follow the right side even to the fire, but excluding the fire if I can.

..a man may live long, yet live very little. Satisfaction in life depends not on the number of your years, but on your will.