Old trees in their living state are the only things that money cannot command.

Authors are like cattle going to a fair: those of the same field can never move on without butting one another.

I would recommend a free commerce both of matter and mind. I would let men enter their own churches with the same freedom as their own houses; and I would do it without a homily or graciousness or favor, for tyranny itself is to me a word less odious than toleration.

A true philosopher is beyond the reach of fortune.

Principles do not mainly influence even the principled; we talk on principle, but we act on interest.

That which moveth the heart most is the best poetry; it comes nearest unto God, the source of all power.

Heat and animosity, contest and conflict, may sharpen the wits, although they rarely do; they never strengthen the understanding, clear the perspicacity, guide the judgment, or improve the heart.