“For it can never be that war shall preserve life, and peace destroy it.”

Power simply is no more, but the excess of the power of one above that of another.

A great leap in the dark.

For such is the nature of man, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned; Yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves.

For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man’s nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.

Philosophy excludes the doctrine of angels, and all such things as are thought to be neither bodies nor properties of bodies.

Covenants, without the sword, are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all.

It is not wisdom but authority that makes a Law.

Hell is truth seen too late.

All acquired power consists in command over some of the powers of other man.

I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power, that ceases only in death.

The first and fundamental law of Nature, which is, to seek peace and follow it.

Every part of the universe is ‘body’ and that which is not ‘body’ is no part of the universe, and because the universe is all, that which is no part of it is nothing, and consequently nowhere.

What is the heart but a spring, and the nerves but so many strings, and the joints but so many wheels, giving motion to the whole body?

Some men’s desires are without limits.

it is one thing to desire, another to be in capacity fit for what we desire.

The source of every crime, is some defect of the understanding; or some error in reasoning; or some sudden force of the passions. Defect in the understanding is ignorance; in reasoning, erroneous opinion.

It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hard put more upon a man than he can bear. Worry is rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction.

People say I am ruthless. I am not ruthless. And if I find the man who is calling me ruthless, I shall destroy him.

Caterpillars must grow- destroy what it is you think you know.

The boredom of married life inevitable destroys love, when love has preceded marriage.

How natural it is to destroy what we cannot possess, to deny what we do not understand, and to insult what we envy!

Time destroys everything.

All the ills from which America suffers can be traced back to the teaching of evolution. It would be better to destroy every other book ever written, and save just the first three verses of Genesis.

Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. But fear is your best friend. Fear is like fire. If you learn to control it, you let it work for you. If you don’t learn to control it, it’ll destroy you and everything around you.