The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.
My early and invincible love of reading – I would not exchange for the treasures of India.
All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
According to the maxims of universal toleration, the Romans protected a superstition which they despised.
I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work.
To a lover of books the shops and sales in London present irresistible temptations.
If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.
History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself.
Style is the image of character.
Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.
Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.