The skilful disputant well knows that he never has his enemy at more advantage than when, by allowing the premises, he shows him arguing wrong from his own principles.

Orthodoxy is my doxy - heterodoxy is another man's doxy.

Fanaticism is a fire, which heats the mind indeed, but heats without purifying. It stimulates and ferments all the passions; but it rectifies none of them.

Enthusiasm is that temper of the mind in which the imagination has got the better of the judgment.

Reason is the test of ridicule, not ridicule the test of truth.

High birth is a thing which I never knew any one to disparage except those who had it not; and I never knew any one to make a boast of it who had anything else to be proud of.

A lie has no legs, and cannot stand; but it has wings, and can fly far and wide.

The Egyptians, by the concurrent testimony of antiquity, were among the first who taught that the soul was immortal.

Short isolated sentences were the mode in which ancient Wisdom delighted to convey its precepts, for the regulation of life and manners.

Admiration is one of the most bewitching, enthusiastic passions of the mind; and every common moralist knows that it arises from novelty and surprise, the inseparable attendants of imposture.

Give as few orders as possible, " his father had told him once long ago. "Once you've given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.

A university is a city of ideas, and we're grateful you became citizens of our city.

The past is the father of the present.

Forgiveness begins the healing process - when you forgive God, life, yourself and other people - magic happens within. That's why every religion talks about forgiveness.

The art of newspaper paragraphing is to stroke a platitude until it purrs like an epigram.

The early Mussalmans accepted Islam not because they knew it to be revealed but because it appealed to their virgin reason.

I felt Holyfield was using his head illegally. I told the referee I wasn't getting any help, so I went back to the streets. I cannot defend it, but it happened.

I know for certain that miracles happen, but only for those who hang on to hope.

When you're asking someone for assistance, make it as easy as possible for them to say "no" to you. You don't want someone helping you who doesn't really want to.

A wise man sings his joy in the closet of his heart.