The secret of the illusoriness is in the necessity of a succession of moods or objects. Gladly we would anchor, but the anchorageis quicksand.

Besides the general infusion of wit to heighten civility, the direct splendor of intellectual power is ever welcome in fine society, as the costliest addition to its rule and its credit.

A just thinker will allow full swing to his scepticism. I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I am not afraid of falling into my inkpot.... We are of different opinions at different hours, but we always may be said to be at heart on the side of truth.

Great men do not content us. It is their solitude, not their force, that makes them conspicuous.

A great man will find a great subject, or which is the same thing, make any subject great.

The great man is not convulsible or tormentable; events pass over him without much impression.

Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.