"I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them."

"The mind, when it understands things, does so according to the order of the intellect, and not according to the order of nature."

"Blessedness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself."

"The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak."

"The desire of knowing is the proper and most important property of the human mind."