A False Modesty Is The Meanest Species

In This Primitive And Abject State [of Hunters And Gatherers], Which Ill Deserves The Name Of Society, The Human Brute, Without Arts Or Laws, Almost Without Sense Or Language, Is Poorly Distinguished From The Rest Of The Animal Creation.

The Style Of An Author Should Be The Image Of His Mind, But The Choice And Command Of Language Is The Fruit Of Exercise.

[the Monks'] Credulity Debased And Vitiated The Faculties Of The Mind: They Corrupted The Evidence Of History; And Superstition Gradually Extinguished The Hostile Light Of Philosophy And Science.

Where The Subject Lies So Far Beyond Our Reach, The Difference Between The Highest And The Lowest Of Human Understandings May Indeed Be Calculated As Infinitely Small; Yet The Degree Of Weakness May Perhaps Be Measured By The Degree Of Obstinacy And Dogmatic Confidence.

The Love Of Study, A Passion Which Derives Fresh Vigor From Enjoyment, Supplies Each Day, Each Hour, With A Perpetual Source Of Independent And Rational Pleasure.