I Sit In My Loft With The

The Want Of Faith, As Well As Faith Itself, Is Best Shewn By Works. If A Sceptic Avoid The Fire As Much As Those Who Believe It Dangerous To Go Into It, We Can Hardly Avoid Thinking His Scepticism To Be Feigned, And Not Real.

A Philosopher Is, No Doubt, Entitled To Examine Even Those Distinctions That Are To Be Found In The Structure Of All Languages... In That Case, Such A Distinction May Be Imputed To A Vulgar Error, Which Ought To Be Corrected In Philosophy.

A Definition Is Nothing Else But An Explication Of The Meaning Of A Word, By Words Whose Meaning Is Already Known. Hence It Is Evident That Every Word Cannot Be Defined; For The Definition Must Consist Of Words; And There Could Be No Definition, If There Were Not Words Previously Understood Without Definition.

We Find Sects And Parties In Most Branches Of Science; And Disputes Which Are Carried On From Age To Age, Without Being Brought To An Issue. Sophistry Has Been More Effectually Excluded From Mathematics And Natural Philosophy Than From Other Sciences. In Mathematics It Had No Place From The Beginning; Mathematicians Having Had The Wisdom To Define Accurately The Terms They Use, And To Lay Down, As Axioms, The First Principles On Which Their Reasoning Is Grounded. Accordingly, We Find No Parties Among Mathematicians, And Hardly Any Disputes.

There Is No Greater Impediment To The Advancement Of Knowledge Than The Ambiguity Of Words.