Hoc age ['do this'] is the great rule, whether you are serious or merry; whether ... learning science or duty from a folio, or floating on the Thames. Intentions must be gathered from acts.

No man was ever great by imitation.

The first step to greatness is to be honest.

If we require more perfection from women than from ourselves, it is doing them honor.

It is astonishing that any man can forbear enquiring seriously whether there is a God; whether God is just; whether this life is the only state of existence.

Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.

Politeness is fictitious benevolence. Depend upon it, the want of it never fails to produce something disagreeable to one or other.