"The greatest gift is a passion for reading."

"The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again; and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered."

"For there is in mankind an unfortunate propensity to make themselves, their views and their works, the measure of excellence in every thing whatsoever"

"A state without the means of some change, is without the means of its own conservation."

"The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse."

"It is our ignorance of things that causes all our admiration and chiefly excites our passions."

"Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to occasional organs by which they act, and the transitory modes in which they appear."

"Wise men will apply their remedies to vices, not to names; to the causes of evil which are permanent, not to occasional organs by which they act, and the transitory modes in which they appear."

"No man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him."

"Ambition can creep as well as soar."

"Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their appetites."

"Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all."

"Those who attempt to level, never equalize."

"There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief."

"The nature of things is, I admit, a sturdy adversary."

"He that accuses all mankind of corruption ought to remember that he is sure to convict only one."

"Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe."

"We set ourselves to bite the hand that feeds us"

"Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without."

"Society is indeed a contract. ... It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection."

"It is generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles and design."

"Society is indeed a contract ... it becomes a participant not only between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born."

"There is a sort of gloss upon ingenious falsehoods that dazzles the imagination, but which neither belongs to, nor becomes the sober aspect of truth."

"I cannot conceive how any man can have brought himself to consider his country as nothing but carte blanche, upon which he may scribble whatever he pleases."

"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing."

"A representative owes not just his industry but his judgement"

"Superstition is the religion of feeble minds."

"The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please; we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations which may be soon turned into complaints."

"It is a dreadful truth, but it is a truth that cannot be concealed; in ability, in dexterity, in the distinctness of their views, the Jacobins are our superiors."

"Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years."

"Politics ought to be adjusted not to human reasonings but to human nature, of which reason is but a part and by no means the greatest part."

"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear."

"Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver, and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings."

"A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper, and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors."

"Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security."

"Nothing is such an enemy to accuracy of judgment as a coarse discrimination; a want of such classification and distribution as the subject admits of."

"Society is a partnership of the dead, the living and the unborn."

"A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood."

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

"No one remembers who climbed Mount Everest the second time."

"Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully and feel the same urge to climb towards it."

"Nobody climbs mountains for scientific reasons. Science is used to raise money for the expeditions, but you really climb for the hell of it."

"Life's a bit like mountaineering - never look down."

"I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous."

"It's not a real adventure when you have to pay for it."

"I have discovered that even the mediocre can have adventures and even the fearful can achieve."

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves."

"When you go to the mountains, you see them and you admire them. In a sense, they give you a challenge, and you try to express that challenge by climbing them."

"I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you will work hard for it."

"Good planning is important. I've also regarded a sense of humor as one of the most important things on a big expedition. When you're in a difficult or dangerous situation, or when you're depressed about the chances of success, someone who can make you laugh eases the tension."