“Words are like Leaves; and where they most abound, Much Fruit of Sense beneath is rarely found.”

Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed was the ninth beatitude.

A youth of frolic, an old age of cards.

In faith and hope the world will disagree, but all mankind’s concern is charity.

He best can paint them who shall feel them most.

Vices and virtues are of a strange nature, for the more we have, the fewer we think we have.

No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday.

If, presume not to God to scan; The proper study of Mankind is Man. Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle state, a being darkly wise, and rudely great.

Never find fault with the absent.

Learning is like mercury, one of the most powerful and excellent things in the world in skillful hands; in unskillful, the most mischievous.

For what I have publish’d, I can only hope to be pardon’d; but for what I have burned, I deserve to be prais’d.

Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.

Strength of mind is exercise, not rest.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

Lulled in the countless chambers of the brain, our thoughts are linked by many a hidden chain; awake but one, and in, what myriads rise!

Who dare to love their country, and be poor.

But although all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it arises from experience.

But, though all our knowledge begins with experience, it by no means follows that all arises out of experience.

So, listen, to yourself and to those with whom you are speaking. Your wisdom then consists not of the knowledge you already have, but the continual search for knowledge, which is the highest form of wisdom.

I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent than the extent of my power or possessions.

Ideologies are substitutes for true knowledge, and ideologues are always dangerous when they come to power, because a simple-minded I-know-it-all approach is no match for the complexity of existence.

Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.

Reading is not an end to itself, but a means to an end.

The process may seem strange and yet it is very true. I did not so much gain the knowledge of things by the words, as words by the experience I had of things.