Government can have no more than two legitimate purposes - the suppression of injustice against individuals within the community, and the common defense against external invasion.

The diligent scholar is he that loves himself, and desires to have reason to applaud and love himself.

I shall attempt to prove two things: first, that the actions and dispositions of mankind are the offspring of circumstances and events, and not of any original determination that they bring into the world; and, secondly, that the great stream of our voluntary actions essentially depends, not upon the direct and immediate impulses of sense, but upon the decisions of the understanding.

The lessons of their early youth regulated the conduct of their riper years.

In a well-written book we are presented with the maturest reflections, or the happiest flights of a mind of uncommon excellence. It is impossible that we can be much accustomed to such companions without attaining some resemblance to them.

Everything that is usually understood by the term co-operation is, in some degree, an evil.

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.