To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that the only solid, though a far... slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I am no lover of pompous title, but only desire that my name may be recorded in a line or two, which shall briefly express my name..., my virginity, the years of my reign, the reformation of religion under it, and my preservation of peace.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The Enlightenment codified the vision of the world as a unified, self-sufficient Nature, governed by orderly laws, and including m...an within itself as a part of Nature and nothing else. It is the codification, in outline, of the world we now inhabit. The supposition that the Enlightenment is but a kind of continuation and completion of the Reformation is sometimes attacked as naive and over-intellectualist. Yet the logical connection is obviously there: the notion that it is legitimate to scrutinize the claims of a self-proclaimed sacred institution, by checking it against the independent testimony of scripture, would seem to lead naturally to the idea that everything, including scripture itself, can be scrutinized in the light of the independent testimony of "Reason" or fact.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Freedom to think our own thoughts, freedom to utter them, freedom to live out the promptings of our inner life ultimated in this c...onvention, was termed a monstrosity of the 19th century. What was it?--the legitimate out-birth of the eternal law of progress. This reformation underlies every other; it is the only healthful centre around which hope of humanity can revolve.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of habeas corpus, and trial by juries impart...ially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I fancy it must be the quantity of animal food eaten by the English which renders their character insusceptible of civilisation. I... suspect it is in their kitchens and not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, and that Missionaries of that description from [France] would avail more than those who should endeavor to tame them by precepts of religion or philosophy.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Go on then in doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword; shew that reformation is more practicable by operat...ing on the mind than on the body of man.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Poetry has this much, at least, in common with religion, that its standards were fixed long ago, by certain inspired writers, whos...e authority it is no longer lawful to call in question; and that many profess to be entirely devoted to it, who have no good works to produce in support of their pretensions. The catholic poetical church, too, has worked but few miracles since the first ages of its establishment; and has been more prolific, for a long time, of doctors than of saints: It has had its corruptions, and reformation also, and has given birth to an infinite variety of heresies and errors, the followers of which have hated and persecuted each other as cordially as other bigots.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »