Falsehood, like the dry-rot, flourishes the more in proportion as air and light are excluded.

It is quite possible, and not uncommon, to read most laboriously, even so as to get by heart the words of a book, without really studying it at all,--that is, without employing the thoughts on the subject.

He that is not open to conviction is not qualified for discussion.

The more secure we feel against our liability to any error to which, in fact, we are liable, the greater must be our danger of falling into it.

Reason can no more influence the will, and operate as a motive, than the eyes which show a man his road can enable him to move from place to place, or that a ship provided with a compass can sail without a wind.

The relief that is afforded to mere want, as want, tends to increase that want.

As the telescope is not a substitute for, but an aid to, our sight, so revelation is not designed to supersede the use of reason, but to supply its deficiencies.