Every human being whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge.

I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice.

Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others.

The liberty of the press is a blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants.

Hope is necessary in every condition.

It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination.

Among the innumerable mortifications which waylay human arrogance on every side may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects and effects, a defect of which we become more sensible by every attempt to supply it. Vulgar and inactive minds confound familiarity with knowledge and conceive themselves informed of the whole nature of things when they are shown their form or told their use; but the speculatist, who is not content with superficial views, harasses himself with fruitless curiosity, and still, as he inquires more, perceives only that he knows less.