Discourses on humility are a source of pride in the vain and of humility in the humble. So those on scepticism cause believers to ...affirm. Few men speak humbly of humility, chastely of chastity, few doubtingly of scepticism.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Let us, then, take our compass; we are something, and we are not everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowled...ge of first beginnings which are born of the nothing; and the littleness of our being conceals from us the sight of the infinite. Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Let us then examine this point, and say, "God is, or he is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing her...e. There is an infinite chaos which separates us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is a lot of difference between tempting and leading into error. God tempts but does not lead into error. To tempt is to prov...ide opportunities for us to do certain things if we do not love God, but putting us under no necessity to do so. To lead into error is to compel a man necessarily to conclude and follow a falsehood.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If we dreamed the same thing every night, it would affect us much as the objects we see every day. And if a common workman were su...re to dream every night for twelve hours that he was a king, I believe he would be almost as happy as a king who should dream every night for twelve hours on end that he was a common workman.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We know then the existence and nature of the finite, because we also are finite and have extension. We know the existence of the i...nfinite and are ignorant of its nature, because it has extension like us, but not limits like us. But we know neither the existence nor the nature of God, because he has neither extension nor limits.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an un...certainty, sea voyages, battles!LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Those who profess contempt for men, and put them on a level with beasts, yet wish to be admired and believed by men, and contradic...t themselves by their own feelings--their nature, which is stronger than all, convincing them of the greatness of man more forcibly than reason convinces them of his baseness.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »