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

There must be room for the imagination to exercise its powers; we must conceive and apprehend a thousand things which we do not actually witness.

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.

Books are the depositary of everything that is most honourable to man.

It is absurd to expect the inclinations and wishes of two human beings to coincide, through any long period of time. To oblige them to act and live together is to subject them to some inevitable potion of thwarting, bickering, and unhappiness.

Invisible things are the only realities; invisible things alone are the things that shall remain.

The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.