He who truly believes that which prompts him to an action has looked upon the action to lust after it, he has committed it already in his heart.

Namely, we have no right to believe a thing true because everybody says so unless there are good grounds for believing that some one person at least has the means of knowing what is true, and is speaking the truth so far as he knows it.

We feel much happier and more secure when we think we know precisely what to do, no matter what happens, then when we have lost our way and do not know where to turn.

If I steal money from any person, there may be no harm done from the mere transfer of possession; he may not feel the loss, or it may prevent him from using the money badly. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself dishonest.

No simplicity of mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe.

A little reflection will show us that every belief, even the simplest and most fundamental, goes beyond experience when regarded as a guide to our actions.

Thought is powerless, except it make something outside of itself: the thought which conquers the world is not contemplative but active.