here was the secret of happiness, about which philosophers had disputed for so many ages, at once discovered; happiness might now be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat-pocket; portable ecstasies might be had corked up in a pint-bottle; and peace of mind could be sent down by the mail.
Thomas de QuinceyNobody will laugh long who deals much with opium: its pleasures even are of a grave and solemn complexion.
Thomas de QuinceyThe whole body of the arts and sciences composes one vast machinery for the irritation and development of the human intellect.
Thomas de QuinceyAll is finite in the present; and even that finite is infinite in it velocity of flight towards death. But in God there is nothing finite...Upon a night of earthquake he builds a thousand years of pleasant habitations for man. Upon the sorrow of an infant he raises oftentimes from human intellects glorious vintages that could not else have been.
Thomas de Quincey