The cause of justice is the cause of humanity. Its advocates should overflow with universal good will. We should love this cause, for it conduces to the general happiness of mankind.
Government will not fail to employ education, to strengthen its hands and perpetuate its institutions.
As the true object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various reading should lead him into new trains of thinking.
The great model of the affection of love in human beings is the sentiment which subsists between parents and children.
The proper method for hastening the decay of error is by teaching every man to think for himself.
Justice is the sum of all moral duty.
It is probable that there is no one thing that it is of eminent importance for a child to learn.
God himself has no right to be a tyrant.
What indeed is life, unless so far as it is enjoyed? It does not merit the name.
The wise man is satisfied with nothing.
No maxim can be more pernicious than that which would teach us to consult the temper of the times, and to tell only so much as we imagine our contemporaries will be able to bear.
Study with desire is real activity; without desire it is but the semblance and mockery of activity.
Duty is that mode of action on the part of the individual which constitutes the best possible application of his capacity to the general benefit.
Hereditary wealth is in reality a premium paid to idleness.
Literature, taken in all its bearings, forms the grand line of demarcation between the human and the animal kingdoms.
In a well-written book we are presented with the maturest reflections, or the happiest flights of a mind of uncommon excellence. It is impossible that we can be much accustomed to such companions without attaining some resemblance to them.
There is no sphere in which a human being can be supposed to act where one mode of reasoning will not, in every given instance, be more reasonable than any other mode. That mode the being is bound by every principle of justice to pursue.
The real or supposed rights of man are of two kinds, active and passive; the right in certain cases to do as we list; and the right we possess to the forbearance or assistance of other men. The first of these a just philosophy will probably induce us universally to explode.
A celebrated north country apostle, who, after Calvin had damned ninety-nine in a hundred of mankind, had contrived a scheme for damning ninety-nine in a hundred of the followers of Calvin.
Whenever truth stands in the mind unaccompanied by the evidence upon which it depends, it cannot properly be said to be apprehended at all.