It is one thing to wish to have truth on our side, and another to wish sincerely to be on the side of truth.

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry gets the best of the argument.

Men first make up their minds (and the smaller the mind the sooner made up), and then seek for the reasons; and if they chance to stumble upon a good reason, of course they do not reject it. But though they are right, they are only right by chance.

Even supposing there were some spiritual advantage in celibacy, it ought to be completely voluntary.

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

He only is exempt from failures who makes no efforts.

Of metaphors, those generally conduce most to energy or vivacity of style which illustrate an intellectual by a sensible object.