Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.
It is impossible for us to think of any thing, which we have not antecedently felt, either by our external or internal senses.
No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.
It is an absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions, and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless appetite for applause
As every inquiry which regards religion is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular which challenge our attention, to wit, that concerning its foundation in reason, and that concerning it origin in human nature.
To be a philosophical Sceptic is the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian.
Of all sciences there is none, where first appearances are more deceitful than in politics.
Indulge your passion for science…but let your science be human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society. Be a philosopher; but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
Does a man of sense run after every silly tale of hobgoblins or fairies, and canvass particularly the evidence? I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries.
Nothing is more usual than for philosophers to encroach upon the province of grammarians; and to engage in disputes of words, while they imagine that they are handling controversies of the deepest importance and concern.
Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.
Epicurus’s old questions are still unanswered: Is he (God) willing to prevent evil, but not able? then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? then whence evil?
Any pride or haughtiness, is displeasing to us, merely because it shocks our own pride, and leads us by sympathy into comparison, which causes the disagreeable passion of humility.
A body of ten ounces raised in any scale may serve as a proof, that the counterbalancing weight exceeds ten ounces; but can never afford a reason that it exceeds a hundred.
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.…’Tis not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.
The most perfect happiness, surely, must arise from the contemplation of the most perfect object.
He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances.
Nothing is pure and entire of a piece. All advantages are attended with disadvantages. A universal compensation prevails in all conditions of being and existence.
The most unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so.
He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper but he is more excellent who suits his temper to any circumstances.
Be a philosopher but amid all your philosophy be still a man.
The most unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so.
I am ready to reject all belief and reasoning and can look upon no opinion even as more probable or likely than another.
A propensity to hope and joy is real riches one to fear and sorrow real poverty.
A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century.
Human Nature is the only science of man and yet has been hitherto the most neglected.
Nothing endears so much a friend as sorrow for his death. The pleasure of his company has not so powerful an influence.
Scholastic learning and polemical divinity retarded the growth of all true knowledge.
There is not to be found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned good sense, education and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves.
The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one.
The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst.
The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny.
Heaven and hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and the bad. But the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue.
A purpose, an intention, a design, strikes everywhere even the careless, the most stupid thinker.
Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
Beauty, whether moral or natural, is felt, more properly than perceived.
Belief is nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain.
Every wise, just, and mild government, by rendering the condition of its subjects easy and secure, will always abound most in people, as well as in commodities and riches.
This avidity alone, of acquiring goods and possessions for ourselves and our nearest friends, is insatiable, perpetual, universal, and directly destructive of society.