Every man has a certain sphere of discretion which he has a right to expect shall not be infringed by his neighbours. This right flows from the very nature of man.

Learning is the ally, not the adversary of genius... he who reads in a proper spirit, can scarcely read too much.

Justice is the sum of all moral duty.

There is no sphere in which a human being can be supposed to act where one mode of reasoning will not, in every given instance, be more reasonable than any other mode. That mode the being is bound by every principle of justice to pursue.

If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by the collision of mind with mind.

Duty is that mode of action on the part of the individual which constitutes the best possible application of his capacity to the general benefit.

No maxim can be more pernicious than that which would teach us to consult the temper of the times, and to tell only so much as we imagine our contemporaries will be able to bear.