He wanted to know how they prayed to God in El Dorado. "We do not pray to him at all," said the reverend sage. "We have nothing to ask of him. He has given us all we want, and we give him thanks continually.

But nothing is more estimable than a physician who, having studied nature from his youth, knows the properties of the human body, the diseases which assail it, the remedies which will benefit it, exercises his art with caution, and pays equal attention to the rich and the poor.

The man who, in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today, would have wished to live had he waited a week.

Common sense is both more rare and more desirable in leaders than mere intelligence.

Our priests are not what a silly populace supposes; all their learning consists in our credulity.

The mirror is a worthless invention. The only way to truly see yourself is in the reflection of someone else's eyes.

Faith consists in believing what reason cannot.