Revolutions are the produce of passion, not of sober and tranquil reason.

Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny.

The first duty of man is to take none of the principles of conduct upon trust; to do nothing without a clear and individual conviction that it is right to be done.

By right, as the word is employed in this subject, has always been understood discretion, that is, a full and complete power of either doing a thing or omitting it, without the person's becoming liable to animadversion or censure from another, that is, in other words, without his incurring any degree of turpitude or guilt. Now in this sense I affirm that man has no rights, no discretionary power whatever.

As the true object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various reading should lead him into new trains of thinking.

The subtleties of mathematics defecate the grossness of our apprehension, and supply the elements of a sounder and severer logic.

We cannot perform our tasks to the best of our power, unless we think well of our own capacity.