The great enemy of knowledge is not error, but inertness. All that we want is discussion; and then we are sure to do well, no matter what our blunder….

Sir, the slowness of genius is hard to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is insufferable..

When the interval between the intellectual classes and the practical classes is too great, the former will possess no influence, the latter will reap….

Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about per….

The duty of a philosopher is clear. He must take every pain to ascertain the truth; and, having arrived at a conclusion, he should noise it abroad fa….

In 1776, the Americans laid before Europe that noble Declaration, which ought to be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch o….

The clergy, with a few honorable exceptions, have in all modern countries been the avowed enemies of the diffusion of knowledge, the danger of which ….

The actions of bad men produce only temporary evil, the actions of good men only temporary good ; and eventually the good and the evil altogether sub….

Men are made uneasy; they flinch; they cannot bear the sudden light; a general restlessness supervenes; the face of society is disturbed, or perhaps ….

If you can impress any man with an absorbing conviction of the supreme importance of some moral or religious doctrine; if you can make him believe th….

Even in an advanced stage of civilization, there is always a tendency to prefer those parts of literature which favor ancient prejudices, rather than….

Whenever a man boasts much about [his common sense], you may be pretty sure that he has very little sense, either common or uncommon..

That the system of morals propounded in the New Testament contained no maxim which had not been previously enunciated, and that some of the most beau….

The faculty of art is to change events; the faculty of science is to foresee them. The phenomena with which we deal are controlled by art; they are p….

Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it..

He who knows most believes the least..

First doubt, then inquire, then discover. This has been the process with all our great thinkers..