Did not strong connections draw me elsewhere, I believe Scotland would be the country I would choose to end my days in.
Music cannot be called otherwise than the sister of painting, for she is dependent upon hearing, a sense second to sight, and her harmony is composed of the union of its proportional parts sounded simultaneously, rising and falling in one or more harmonic rhythms.
Demonstration is also something necessary, because a demonstration cannot go otherwise than it does, ... And the cause of this lies with the primary premises/principles.
Friends hold a mirror up to each other; through that mirror they can see each other in ways that would not otherwise be accessible to them, and it is this mirroring that helps them improve themselves as persons.
It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel.
Man is a goal-seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.
Imagination is a sort of faint perception.
Injustice results as much from treating unequals equally as from treating equals unequally.
Where there is hunger, law is not regarded;and where law is not regarded, there will be hunger.
Now, the causes being four, it is the business of the student of nature to know about them all, and if he refers his problems back to all of them, he will assign the "why" in the way proper to his science-the matter, the form, the mover, that for the sake of which.
For imitation is natural to man from his infancy. Man differs from other animals particularly in this, that he is imitative, and acquires his rudiments of knowledge in this way; besides, the delight in it is universal.
A good style must, first of all, be clear. It must not be mean or above the dignity of the subject. It must be appropriate.
Ancient laws remain in force long after the people have the power to change them.
Fools make feasts and wise men eat them.
Some are weatherwise, some are otherwise.
Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass, though but slowly.
He who truly knows has no occasion to shout.
So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own business; but to these we must add frugality if we would make our industry more certainly successful. A man may, if he knows not how to save as he gets, keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth a grout at last.
Metaphor is halfway between the unintelligible and the commonplace.
A tragedy is that moment where the hero comes face to face with his true identity.
Grievances cannot be redressed until they are known; and they cannot be known but through complaints and petitions. If these are deemed affronts, and the messengers punished as offenders, who will henceforth send petitions? And who will deliver them? Wise governments encouraged the airing of grievances, even those that were lightly founded Foolish governments did the opposite - to their peril. Where complaining is a crime, hope becomes despair.
Do not fear mistakes.
Marry above thy match and you will get a master.
Happiness is the utilization of one's talents along lines of excellence.
In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.
It is more difficult to organize a peace than to win a war; but the fruits of victory will be lost if the peace is not organized.
He who sees things grow from the beginning will have the best view of them.
Friendship is a thing most necessary to life, since without friends no one would choose to live, though possessed of all other advantages.
It is the activity of the intellect that constitutes complete human happiness - provided it be granted a complete span of life, for nothing that belongs to happiness can be incomplete.
The body of the earth is of the nature of a fish... because it draws water as its breath instead of air.
When a nation is surrounded by weaponized nations, she has to equip herself.
All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.
Friends and neighbors complain that taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might the more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly.
The US Constitution only guarantees your rights as a citizen, it doesn't guarantee happiness. It may take work, but if you have your rights, happiness is very possible.
Here comes the orator with his flood of words and his drop of reason.
One citizen differs from another, but the salvation of the community is the common business of them all. This community is the constitution; the virtue of the citizen must therefore be relative to the constitution of which he is a member.
Moral qualities are so constituted as to be destroyed by excess and by deficiency . . .
They who are to be judges must also be performers.
The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but it is still nonsense.
Notwithstanding my experiments with electricity the thunderbolt continues to fall under our noses and beards; and as for the tyrant, there are a million of us still engaged at snatching away his sceptre.
Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them.
The best way to avoid envy is to deserve the success you get.
The habits we form from childhood make no small difference, but rather they make all the difference.
If we restrict liberty to attain security we will lose them both.
What you would seem to be, be really.
Yellow-colored objects appear to be gold
O neglectful Nature, wherefore art thou thus partial, becoming to some of thy children a tender and benignant mother, to others a most cruel and ruthless stepmother? I see thy children given into slavery to others without ever receiving any benefit, and in lieu of any reward for the services they have done for them they are repaid by the severest punishments.
The next thing most like living one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing.
The first principle of all action is leisure.
Two passions have powerful influence on the affairs of men: the love of power and the love of money.
Tears come from the heart and not from the brain
If Pride leads the Van, Beggary brings up the Rear.
Every obstacle yields to stern resolve.
Because the rich are generally few in number, while the poor are many, they appear to be antagonistic, and as the one or the other prevails they form the government. Hence arises the common opinion that there are two kinds of government - democracy and oligarchy.
All teaching and all intellectual learning come about from already existing knowledge.
In Truth I found myself incorrigible with respect to Order; and now I am grown old, and my Memory bad, I feel very sensibly the want of it.
It will contribute towards one's object, who wishes to acquire a facility in the gaining of knowledge, to doubt judiciously.
Great spenders are bad lenders.
If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
Moderation in all things - including moderation.
