The praise of ancient authors proceeds not from the reverence of the dead, but from the competition and mutual envy of the living.

Passions unguided are for the most part mere madness.

Nature itself cannot err

I mean by the universe, the aggregate of all things that have being in themselves; and so do all men else. And because God has a being, it follows that he is either the whole universe, or part of it. Nor does his Lordship go about to disprove it, but only seems to wonder at it.

As soon as a thought darts, I write it down.

Fear of things invisible is the natural seed of that which everyone in himself calleth religion.

From whence it happens, that they which trust to books, do as they that cast up many little sums into a greater, without considering whether those little sums were rightly cast up or not; and at last finding the error visible, and not mistrusting their first grounds, know not which way to clear themselves; but spend time in fluttering over their books, as birds that entering by the chimney, and finding themselves enclosed in a chamber, flutter at the false light of a glass window, for want of wit to consider which way they came in.