Nothing Is More Dangerous To Reason Than

When I Am Convinced Of Any Principle, It Is Only An Idea Which Strikes More Strongly Upon Me. When I Give The Preference To One Set Of Arguments Above Another, I Do Nothing But Decide From My Feeling Concerning The Superiority Of Their Influence.

The Best Taxes Are Such As Are Levied Upon Consumptions, Especially Those Of Luxury; Because Such Taxes Are Least Felt By The People. They Seem, In Some Measure, Voluntary; Since A Man May Choose How Far He Will Use The Commodity: They Naturally Produce Sobriety And Frugality, If Judiciously Imposed: And Being Confounded With The Natural Price Of The Commodity, They Are Scarcely Perceived By The Consumers. Their Only Disadvantage Is That They Are Expensive In The Levying.

The More Instances We Examine, And The More Care We Employ, The More Assurance Shall We Acquire, That The Enumeration, Which We Form From The Whole, Is Complete And Entire.

To Invent Without Scruple A New Principle To Every New Phenomenon, Instead Of Adapting It To The Old; To Overload Our Hypothesis With A Variety Of This Kind, Are Certain Proofs That None Of These Principles Is The Just One, And That We Only Desire, By A Number Of Falsehoods, To Cover Our Ignorance Of The Truth.

When Men Are Most Sure And Arrogant They Are Commonly Most Mistaken, Giving Views To Passion Without That Proper Deliberation Which Alone Can Secure Them From The Grossest Absurdities.