To die completely, a person must not only forget but be forgotten, and he who is not forgotten is not dead.

Prayers are to men as dolls are to children. They are not without use and comfort, but it is not easy to take them very seriously.

The extremes of vice and virtue are alike detestable, and absolute virtue is as sure to kill a man as absolute vice is.

Whatsoever we perpetrate, we do but row; we are steered by fate.

Adversity, if a man is set down to it by degrees, is more supportable with equanimity by most people than any great prosperity arrived at in a single lifetime.

There are two classes [of scientists], those who want to know, and do not care whether others think they know or not, and those who do not much care about knowing, but care very greatly about being reputed as knowing.

Though analogy is often misleading, it is the least misleading thing we have.