I would prefer an intelligent hell to a stupid paradise.
Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.
It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.
All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.
The past and present are only our means the future is always our end. Thus we never really live but only hope to live.
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed.
Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.
He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright.
Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see it is above, not against them.
Kind words produce their images on men's souls.
The strength of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.
Noble deeds that are concealed are most esteemed.
When we read too fast or too slowly, we understand nothing.
Happiness is neither without us nor within us. It is in God, both without us and within us.
The majority is the best way because it is visible and has strength to make itself obeyed. Yet it is the opinion of the least able.
There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.
Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager,...
The power of a man's virtue should not be measured by his special efforts but by his ordinary doing.
Knowlege of God without knowledge of man's wretchedness leads to pride. Knowledge of man's wretchedness without knowledge of God leads to despair. Knowledge of Jesus Christ is the middle course, becau...