“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.”

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

Where am I, or what? From what causes do I derive my existence, and to what condition shall I return?

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.

It is difficult for a man to speak long of himself without vanity.

Nothing is more usual than for philosophers to encroach upon the province of grammarians; and to engage in disputes of words, while they imagine that they are handling controversies of the deepest importance and concern

The gazing populace receive greedily, without examination, whatever soothes superstition and promotes wonder.

In public affairs men are often better pleased that the truth, though known to everybody, should be wrapped up under a decent cover than if it were exposed in open daylight to the eyes of all the world.

Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.

Reading and sauntering and lounging and dosing, which I call thinking, is my supreme Happiness.

Revolutions of government cannot be effected by the mere force of argument and reasoning.

No man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.

The identity that we ascribe to things is only a fictitious one, established by the mind, not a peculiar nature belonging to what we’re talking about.

Heaven and Hell suppose two distinct species of men, the good and bad.

The victory is not gained by the men at arms, who manage the pike and the sword; but by the trumpeters, drummers, and musicians of the army.

Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them

All sentiment is right; because sentiment has a reference to nothing beyond itself, and is always real, wherever a man is conscious of it.

The dearest friend on earth is a mere shadow compared with Jesus Christ.

Never compare your insides to everyone else’s outsides.

I miss Nixon. Compared to these Nazis we have in the White House now, Richard Nixon was a flaming liberal.

My wisdom is as spurned as chaos. What is my nothingness, compared to the amazement that awaits you?

Hope is in the name of God, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hope is when you compare your suffering to the infinite, immeasurable love and grace of God.

Have goals so big your problems pale in comparison.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

Never be hurried in anything. Do all things calmly and in a spirit of repose. Do not lose your inward peace even if everything seems to be going wrong. What is anything in life compared to peace of soul?