“The feelings of our heart, the agitation of our passions, the vehemence of our affections, dissipate all its conclusions, and reduce the profound philosopher to a mere plebeian.”

Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.

But the life of a man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.

To be a philosophical Sceptic is the first and most essential step towards being a sound, believing Christian.

The truth springs from arguments amongst friends.

When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.

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.

How can we satisfy ourselves without going on in infinitum? And, after all, what satisfaction is there in that infinite progression?

What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call ‘thought’

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

Tis not unreasonable for me to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.

The bigotry of theologians is a malady which seems almost incurable.

I weigh the one miracle against the other and according to the superiority which I discover, I pronounce my decision.

The science of man is the only solid foundation for the other sciences.

Carelessness and in-attention alone can afford us any remedy. For this reason I rely entirely upon them.

But the greatest part of mankind float between vice and virtue.

I never knew anyone, that examined and deliberated about nonsense, who did not believe it before the end of his enquiries.

The most affectionate creature in the world is a wet dog.

Dogs are indeed the most social, affectionate, and amiable animals of the whole brute creation.

All our “most sacred affections ” are merely prosaic habit.

Four sweet lips, two pure souls, and one undying affection, – these are love’s pretty ingredients for a kiss.

It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.

We give our best affections to the beautiful, only our second best to the useful.

We need truth to grow in the same way that we need vitamins, affection and love.

A woman gets angry when a man denies his faults, because she knew them all along. His lying mocks her affection; it is the deceit that angers her more than the faults.