Where There Is No Common Power, There

I Know Not How The World Will Receive It, Nor How It May Reflect On Those That Shall Seem To Favor It. For In A Way Beset With Those That Contend, On One Side For Too Great Liberty , And On The Other Side For Too Much Authority , 'tis Hard To Passe Between The Points Of Both Unwounded.

The Praise Of Ancient Authors Proceeds Not From The Reverence Of The Dead, But From The Competition And Mutual Envy Of The Living.

The Interpretation Of The Laws Of Nature In A Common-wealth, Dependeth Not On The Books Of Moral Philosophy. The Authority Of Writers, Without The Authority Of The Commonwealth, Maketh Not Their Opinions Law, Be They Never So True.

War Consisteth Not In Battle Only, Or The Act Of Fighting; But In A Tract Of Time, Wherein The Will To Contend By Battle Is Sufficiently Known.

Prudence Is A Presumption Of The Future, Contracted From The Experience Of Time Past.