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.

The real or supposed rights of man are of two kinds, active and passive; the right in certain cases to do as we list; and the right we possess to the forbearance or assistance of other men. The first of these a just philosophy will probably induce us universally to explode.

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

If he who employs coercion against me could mould me to his purposes by argument, no doubt he would. He pretends to punish me because his argument is strong; but he really punishes me because his argument is weak.

Of Belief Human mathematics, so to speak, like the length of life, are subject to the doctrine of chances.

Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.