Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” (1794)]
Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.
Woman is not made to be the admiration of all, but the happiness of one.
The human mind is often, and I think it is for the most part, in a state neither of pain nor pleasure, which I call a state of indifference.
No power so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.
Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.
Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.
The nature of things is, I admit, a sturdy adversary.
People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
It is our ignorance of things that causes all our admiration and chiefly excites our passions.
Society is indeed a contract … it becomes a participant not only between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.
Society is indeed a contract. … It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection.
If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
All That Is Needed For Evil To Succeeded, Is For Good People To Do Nothing
All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.
History is the preceptor of prudence, not principles.
The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please; we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations which may be soon turned into complaints.
A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.
He that accuses all mankind of corruption ought to remember that he is sure to convict only one.
I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that the delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it.
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
It is generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles and design.
A representative owes not just his industry but his judgement
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skills. Our antagonist is our helper.
Adversity is a severe instructor. … He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.
Mere parsimony is not economy . . . expense and great expense may be an essential part of true economy.
Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement.
All government – indeed every human benefit and enjoyment every virtue and every prudent act – is founded on compromise and barter.
No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
No passion so effectively robs the mind of its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
Well is it known that ambition can creep as well as soar.
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.
I would rather sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tombs of the Capulets.
History is a pact between the dead the living and the yet unborn.
The effect of liberty on individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do before we risk congratulations.
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
By gnawing through a dyke even a rat may drown a nation.
There is a courageous wisdom there is also a false reptile prudence the result not of caution but of fear.
A disposition to preserve and an ability to improve taken together would be my standard of a statesman.
Your representative owes you not his industry only but his judgement and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.
The writers against religion whilst they oppose every system are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.
A nation without the means of reform is without the means of survival.
By gnawing through a dyke even a rat may drown a nation.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
All men that are ruined are ruined on the side of their natural propensities.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other.
Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.
A very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arises from words.
People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.
Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.
There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity – the law of nature and of nations.
We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.
The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.
But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.
Religion is essentially the art and the theory of the remaking of man. Man is not a finished creation.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.
What ever disunites man from God, also disunites man from man.
No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.
It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.
Beauty in distress is much the most affecting beauty.
There is a boundary to men’s passions when they act from feelings but none when they are under the influence of imagination.
Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom and a great empire and little minds go ill together.
Nothing turns out to be so oppressive and unjust as a feeble government.
All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.
If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free; if our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.
To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.
Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.
Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations – wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
A State without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
Nobility is a graceful ornament to the civil order. It is the Corinthian capital of polished society.
It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice tell me I ought to do.