“The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.”

It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

When you fear something, learn as much about it as you can. Knowledge conquers fear.

It is the nature of all greatness not to be exact.

Great men are never sufficiently shown but in struggles.

An event has happened, upon which it is difficult to speak, and impossible to be silent.

People must be taken as they are, and we should never try make them or ourselves better by quarreling with them.

In history, a great volume is unrolled for our instruction, drawing the materials of future wisdom from the past errors and infirmities of mankind.

We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.

A great empire and little minds go ill together.

The grave is a common treasury, to which we must all be taken.

The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered.

The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Good order is the foundation of all things.

Manners are of more importance than laws. Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that of the air we breathe.

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.

As a reader I loathe introductions…Introductions inhibit pleasure, they kill the joy of anticipation, they frustrate curiosity.

I wanted to see what no one had yet observed, even if I had to pay for this curiosity with my life.

The biggest quest to learn anything is curiosity. If you are curious about something, you will go and dig.

The greatest weapons in the conquest of knowledge are an understanding mind and the inexorable curiosity that drives it on.

No one asks how to motivate a baby. A baby naturally explores everything it can get at, unless restraining forces have already been at work. And this tendency doesn’t die out, it’s wiped out.

Curiosity is only vanity. We usually only want to know something so that we can talk about it.

I flee who chases me and chase who flees me.

If I see anything vital around me, it is precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.