Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

The specualtist, who is not content with superficial views, harasses himself with fruitless curiosity; and still, as he inquires more, perceives only that he knows less.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

If misery be the effect of virtue, it ought to be reverenced; if of ill-fortune, to be pitied; and if of vice, not to be insulted, because it is perhaps itself a punishment adequate to the crime by which it was produced.

All envy would be extinguished, if it were universally known that there are none to be envied.

Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

All theory is against free will; all experience is for it.