“All money is a matter of belief.”

I am a beau in nothing but my books.

The great secret of education is to direct vanity to proper objects.

Resentment seems to have been given us by nature for a defense, and for a defense only! It is the safeguard of justice and the security of innocence.

Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.

In a militia, the character of the laborer, artificer, or tradesman, predominates over that of the soldier: in a standing army, that of the soldier predominates over every other character.

The game women play is men.

The man scarce lives who is not more credulous than he ought to be. The natural disposition is always to believe. It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough.

The world neither ever saw, nor ever will see, a perfectly fair lottery.

Goods can serve many other purposes besides purchasing money, but money can serve no other purpose besides purchasing goods.

I have no faith in political arithmetic.

Never complain of that of which it is at all times in your power to rid yourself.

The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.

No complaint is more common than that of a scarcity of money.

Men, like animals, naturally multiply in proportion to the means of their subsistence.

Labour was the first price, the original purchase – money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.

Justice, however, never was in reality administered gratis in any country. Lawyers and attornies, at least, must always be paid by the parties; and, if they were not, they would perform their duty still worse than they actually perform it.

Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.

Posterity gives to every man his true honor. [Lat., Suum cuique decus posteritas rependet.]

The belief that we are defending the highest good of the mothers of our race and the ultimate welfare of society makes every sacrifice seem trivial, every duty a pleasure.

With aching hands and bleeding feet We dig and heap, lay stone on stone; We bear the burden and the heat Of the long day, and wish ’twere done. Not till the hours of light return All we have built do we discern.

They hadn’t much faith in travel, nor a great belief in a change of scene as a panacea for spiritual ills; they were simply glad to be going.

There is a naive belief that injustice only had to be pointed out in order to be cured.

A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death.

A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death – the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not going to be judged.