In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral evidence.
Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.
No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish.
Avarice, the spur of industry.
The advantages found in history seem to be of three kinds, as they result either from the mere situation of the climate and country or from the form of government and of the character of the people, or from those finer principles and morals, which may be called the recommendations of philosophy.
The liberty of the press is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman.
To be a slave in this world is very different from being a slave in another.
The rules of morality are not the conclusion of our reason.
Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.
The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.
A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.
When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.
Tis not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.
No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle unless the testimony be of such a kind that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavors to establish.
Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.
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.
Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
在我們推理關(guān)于事實的過程中,有各種可能的確證程度,從最高的確定性到最低級別的道德證據(jù)。
一般而言,宗教上的錯誤是危險的,哲學上的錯誤只是荒謬的。
貪婪是工業(yè)的鞭策。